Scientists have found a prehistoric woolly rhinoceros in the permafrost of Yakutia in northern Russia, which is well preserved. Its life dates back about 20,000 to 50,000 years.
Jamie Woodward, a professor of geography at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, wrote on social media Twitter on December 29: "Another extinct ice age animal was dug up from permafrost. ”
According to reports, 80 percent of the body was well preserved, including intact internal organs, teeth and stomach contents, and was still covered with short, thick brown hair.
The spotted rhinoceros was discovered in August by local resident Alexei Savvin.
Albert Protopopov, a paleontologist at the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Sakha in Russia, said the woolly rhinoceros lived between 20,000 and 50,000 years ago, and the exact year cannot be determined until radiocarbon dating.
Protopopov's initial estimates are that the body was a 3- to 4-year-old cub of unknown sex, who drowned in the river that year or drowned, and that there was evidence of the last meal left in his abdomen.
Climate change is causing more and more permafrost layers in Siberia to melt, reviving many frozen animals, including mammoths, woolly rhinos and mountain lion cubs.
It is worth mentioning that the excavation site is close to the location of Sasha, a fledgling rhinoceros cub discovered in 2014.
Sasha was previously the only cub remains of the species, dating back 34,000 years. It died in the summer, only 7 months old, with broken horns proving that the species was much larger than modern rhinos.
Nandu reporter Shi Minglei