A well-preserved Ice Age woolly rhino with many of its internal organs still intact has been recovered from permafrost in Russia’s extreme north. It was reported that the carcass was revealed by melting permafrost in Yakutia in August. Scientists are waiting for ice roads in the Arctic region to become passable to deliver it to a lab for studies next month.
It’s among the best-preserved specimens of the Ice Age animal fund to date. The carcass has most of its soft tissues still intact, including part of the intestines, thick hair, and a lump of fat. Its horn was found next to it.
The sex of the rhino is still unknown, but based on the initial analysis it appears that the rhino was between three and four years old and was alive around 20,000 to 500,000 years ago. It probably lived apart from its mother and most likely died by drowning in the summer.
The extreme cold temperatures helped preserve rhino’s fur and internal organs, offering a much clearer picture of the animal’s appearance ad how it lived.
This is not the first time that such an amazing discovery has happened in this place. In 2014 due to climate change, the summertime in Siberia revealed the world’s only baby woolly rhino named Sasha close to where a new young rhino was buried.
We’ll know more about the creature once ice roads can form and it is delivered to the scientists in the capital city Yakutsk, which is home to the Mammoth Museum.
h/t: [IFLS]
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An extremely well-preserved woolly rhino was recently found in the melting permafrost of Siberia.
An exceptionally well-preserved woolly rhino with its last meal still intact found in Arctic Yakutia. The juvenile rhino with thick hazel-coloured coat was 3 to 4 four years old when it died at least 20,000 years ago; its horn was found next to the carcass https://t.co/7hc1HnYuD0 pic.twitter.com/nS52DRp04c
— The Siberian Times (@siberian_times) December 29, 2020
You can also see a close up of the discovery in the video below:
h/t: [IFLS]