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Autopsy on a 44,000-year-old frozen wolf: What does science hope to reveal about this ancient corpse?

2024-06-29 18:49:55Lifestyle SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Autopsy on a 44,000-year-old frozen wolf: What does science hope to reveal about
Autopsy on a 44,000-year-old frozen wolf

Russian scientists are performing an autopsy on a wolf frozen in permafrost for about 44,000 years, a discovery they say is the first of its kind.

The body of a wolf, which was accidentally found in 2021 by residents of the northeastern region of Yakutia, Abyskiy district, is only now being properly examined by scientists, the Reuters news agency reported.

"This is the world's first discovery of a late Pleistocene predator," said Albert Protopopov, head of the mammoth fauna study department at the Yakutia Academy of Sciences.

"Its age is about 44,000 years and there have never been such finds before," he said.

Located between the Arctic Ocean and the Russian Far East, Yakutia is a vast area of ​​swamps and forests, about 95 percent of which is covered by permafrost.

Autopsy on a 44,000-year-old frozen wolf: What does science hope to reveal about

Winter temperatures in the region are known to drop as low as minus 64 degrees Celsius.

"Usually it's herbivores that die, get stuck in swamps, freeze and come to us as a whole. This is the first time a large carnivore has been found," said Protopopov.

While it's not unusual to find centuries-old animal carcasses buried deep in permafrost, slowly melting due to climate change, the wolf is special, Protopopov said.

"It was a very active predator, one of the biggest. A little smaller than the lion and the cave bear, but a very active, mobile predator and was also a scavenger," he added.

For Artjom Nedoluzhek, development director of the paleogenetics laboratory at the European University in St. Petersburg, the wolf remains offer a rare glimpse into Yakutia 44,000 years ago.

"The main goal is to understand what that wolf ate, who it was and what relationship it had with those ancient wolves that lived in the northeastern part of Eurasia," he said.


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