Reindeer herders in Yakutia have found the mummy of a cave bear, which died out 15 thousand years ago. The age of the find itself, according to preliminary estimates, is about 39 thousand years. It is reported by the Siberian Times.
It is noted that the discovery was a real breakthrough for world science, because earlier scientists found only the bones of this beast. And in the carcass found in Siberia, thanks to the permafrost, teeth, six, a nose and all internal organs were preserved.
Now the remains of the animal will be studied at the North-Eastern Federal University (NEFU) in Yakutsk. To determine the exact age of the bear, the researchers will carry out radiocarbon analysis.
The cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) is a prehistoric species or subspecies that lived in Eurasia and became extinct about 15 thousand years ago.
Earlier it was reported that scientists at the State University of New York at Buffalo have uncovered the cause of the mysterious disappearance of the last woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) that lived on Wrangel Island in the Arctic. It turned out that the population died due to genetic degeneration: mammoths suffered from hereditary diseases caused by a lack of genetic diversity.
