A well-preserved Ice Age woolly rhino with many of its internal organs still intact has recovered from permafrost in the far north of Russia. Russian media reported on Wednesday that the carcass was revealed when the permafrost melted in Yakutia in August.
Scientists expect the Arctic region’s ice roads to be passable for delivery to a laboratory for studies next month.
Valery Plotnikov / AP
It is among the best preserved specimens of the Ice age animal found so far. The carcass has most of its soft tissues still intact, including a part of the intestine, thick hair and a mass of fat. His horn was found next to him.
In recent years, important discoveries have been made of mammoths, woolly rhinos, ice age foals and cave lion cubs, as permafrost is increasingly melting in large areas of Siberia due to the global warming.
Yakutia 24 TV quoted Valery Plotnikov, a paleontologist from the regional branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who said the woolly rhino was probably 3 or 4 years old when he died.
Plotnikov said the young rhino probably drowned.
Scientists dated the carcass to be between 20,000 and 50,000 years old. More accurate dating will be possible once delivered to a laboratory for radiocarbon studies.
The carcass was found on the banks of the Tirekhtyakh River in Abyisk district, near the area where a young woolly rhino was recovered in 2014. Researchers dated this specimen, which they named Sasha, to 34,000 years old.