Scientists Autopsy 44,000-Year-Old Wolf Remains

Following the unprecedented discovery of the remains of a wolf that had been buried in the permafrost of Yakutia, Russia for 44,000 years, Russian scientists conducted an autopsy on the remains. The body of this wolf was accidentally found three years ago by locals in the Abyisky region of Yakutsk. According to Reuters, Albert Protopopov, head of the Mammoth Study Department at the Yakutia Academy of Sciences, stated, "This is the first time a predatory animal from the late Pleistocene geological period has been discovered in the world." Protopopov mentioned, "The age of these remains is approximately 44,000 years; and such a finding has not existed until now." Yakutia, located between the Arctic Ocean and the North Pole at the far eastern end of Russia, is a vast area of swamps and forests, about 95% of which is covered by permafrost. Winter temperatures in this region can drop to 64 degrees Celsius below zero. Protopopov noted, "Usually, herbivorous animals die, get trapped in swamps, freeze, and eventually reach us. This is the first time a large carnivore has been found in this area." He added that finding the remains of animals thousands of years old buried deep in permafrost, which is slowly melting due to climate change, is not unusual; however, this wolf is special. "This was a very active predator and one of the larger animals in the region - slightly smaller than a lion and a cave bear, but a very active and mobile predator as well as a scavenger." For Artyom Nedoluzhko, director of the Paleontology Laboratory at the European University of St. Petersburg, the wolf's remains provide a rare picture of Yakutia 44,000 years ago. He stated that the main goal is to understand what this wolf fed on and its relationship with ancient wolf species that lived in northeastern Eurasia.