Posted on 06/26/2020 6:22:58 AM PDT by Red Badger
As our planet's permafrosts continue to melt in record-breaking heat, we can expect to find astonishing things from the ancient past.
Like this huge wolf head, preserved since the last ice age and unearthed in incredible condition in Siberia in 2018, an estimated 40,000 years since being entombed in frozen wilderness.
The giant head, discovered by a local man in 2018 along the shores of the Tirekhtyakh River in the Russian Republic of Sakha (aka Yakutia), measures a whole 40 centimetres in length (about 16 inches), making it unlike any existing wolf specimen scientists have studied from so long ago.
"This is a unique discovery of the first ever remains of a fully grown Pleistocene wolf with its tissue preserved," palaeontologist Albert Protopopov from the Republic of Sakha Academy of Sciences told The Siberian Times back in 2019.
"We will be comparing it to modern-day wolves to understand how the species has evolved and to reconstruct its appearance."
The find followed the discovery of a number of ancient cave lion cubs in the same region in 2015 and 2017, and represents another amazingly well-preserved animal recovered from Yakutia: its fur, fangs, skin tissue, and even brain tissue are still seemingly intact.
Protopopov, together with scientists from Sweden and Japan, have studied the head, believed to be from an adult wolf two to four years old.
Their work included analysing the ancient animal's DNA, and using tomographic techniques to non-invasively see inside the skull.
According to Protopopov, finding wolf skulls in thawing Siberian permafrost isn't uncommon, but they're rarely on the same level as this massive, ancient predator.
"Several puppies have already been found," Protopopov told Russia's Interfax news agency.
"The uniqueness of this find is that we found the head of an adult wolf with perfectly preserved soft tissues and brain."
Alongside the wolf, the scientists also examined a newly discovered cave lion cub, thought to be a female. The researchers think it may have died shortly after being born and then became preserved in ice.
Nicknamed Spartak, the cub was also in an incredibly undamaged state, giving scientists an amazing opportunity to study and learn more about these ancient specimens.
"Their muscles, organs and brains are in good condition," palaeontologist Naoki Suzuki from the Jikei University School of Medicine in Tokyo told The Asahi Shimbun.
"We want to assess their physical capabilities and ecology by comparing them with lions and wolves of today."
A version of this story was first published in June 2019.
WHAT SEVERED THE WOLF'S HEAD?.................
PinGGG!..................
Saw a TV show about this. The locals are making caves into the lake banks into the permafrost and finding all kinds of animals and animal parts. They are then selling them to the scientists who are coming there from all over the world.
Scruffy, Nooooooooo!
The bottomline is that a cave man name Johnny Fontane eventually did get the part in the movie.
Capitalism.....................
![](https://i.postimg.cc/pVmQWsFh/0D8D3516-0831-4557-8622-1F3D90D22898.jpg";)
Giant Wolves DNA?...........what could possibly go wrong?.................
Re: “As our planet’s permafrost continues to melt in record-breaking heat, we can expect to find astonishing things from the ancient past.”
LOL!
Apparently, the author does not realize that the Big Bad Wolf was walking around on the same level of permafrost we have today, or possibly, it was walking around on unfrozen soil.
Down on the farm, in the late 40s, my Mother had a pet pig named Petunia. But she wasn’t a white Yorkshire like your photo. She was a Berkshire, black with a white spot on her forehead and erect ears. Those were some days, at the end of the War.
"The giant head...measures a whole 40 centimetres in length (about 16 inches), making it unlike any existing wolf specimen scientists have studied from so long ago."
Well, not exactly. Look closely at the tape. Nose appears to align at about the 6cm mark.
All we need is the photo of George Costanza pleading cold shrinkage."
Decay
Maybe they never left?......................
Per the Biblical account and research by Dr. Walt Brown permafrost is basically a direct result of the global flood in Noah’s day approx 3,500 years ago when many kinds or animals were buried in the arctic circle. His research began when he was teaching evolution and found so many lies and logical inconsistencies with the evolution theory.
http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/FrozenMammoths3.html
Didn't wanna domesticate, serves him right.
I wanna know what killed him!.................
Math is hard for journalists..................
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
