Perfectly preserved remains of a foal from 40,000 years ago. years
Permafrost has preserved the remains of the foal so well that skóra, hooves, tail and even tiny hairs in the animal’s nostrils and wokóhoof feet are still visible. Even its internal organs were preserved. Paleontologists found the mummified body of a young horse inside the huge Batagaika crater during an expedition to Yakutia in eastern Siberia.
The foal was probably about twoóch months, when it died. Researchers believe that the móhead to fall into some natural trap and drown. The body is undamaged, with no visible wounds. The mummified remains have a 98 centimeteróin height at withers.
The researchers took próbki hairów and tissues of the foal for study. They also want to study the contents of the animal’s intestines to determine the diet of the young horse. Wild horses can still be found in Yakutia, but the foal belonged to an extinct species Equus lambei, genetically different from wspóThe skull of a modern horse, whichóry lived in the region about 30,000 to 40,000 years ago.
The foal was discovered by local people. It was excavated by paleontologists from Russia and Japan. The specimen was transported to the Mammoth Museumóin Yakutsk for further study. – This is the first such well-preserved specimen of a prehistoric horse at such a young age – said the head of the museum’s laboratory Semyon Grigoryev.
Permafrost can perfectly preserve ancient organisms from decades agoów thousands of years. While global temperatures are rising, more and more magnificent specimens are appearingów. Recently discovered there were a bison from 9,000 years ago, a woolly rhinoceros from a similar period, a small cat from the Ice Age, whichóry móhead to be a cave lion or lynx or a woolly mammoth.
Photo. Mikhail Yakovlev/SVFU
Photo. Michil Yakovlev/SVFU
Surprisingly, one of the creatures found in the thawing permafrost restored theócono to life. Russian researchers thawed the próbki soil from permafrost, in which theórych nematodes have been found dating back to 42,000. years old. Several of these creatures after the cróIn a short time it began to show signs of life. For more on this topic, see Nematodes frozen by 42,000. years wróflesh for life.
Batagaika crater, where the find was made, is a huge hole in the ground of more than 650 kilometersów on pónortheastód from Yakutsk. Such a crateróthere is more in Siberia. Their presence has been linked to climate change and rising temperatures, but Batagaika Crater is unique. It was created after massive logging of the forestóin the 1960s. The Earth, or rather the permafrost, deprived of the sunlight-protecting canopy umbrella, has begun to thaw and collapse. Experts call it a thermocrash. This is how the crater formed, whichóry is called the gateway to the underground world by locals.
Today, the Batagaika crater is more than a kilometer long and nearly a hundred meters longóin depth. But the process of collapsing the earth is going on all the time, and has even accelerated recently. This is related to climate warming. Batagaika sank to 15 metersóin a year, but recently the pace has accelerated. For more on the Batagaika crater, see text: Siberian Batagaika crater deepens and reveals secrets of history.
