A prehistoric wolf that ’s been immobilise like a popsicle for over 44,000 years has undergo a post - mortem in Russia , set to reveal all kind of insights into its life as an apex piranha in the Ice Age .
The wolf was discovered in 2021 beneath around 40 cadence ( 131 feet ) of permafrost on the Tirekhtyakh River in the Abyysky District of Russia ’s Far East .
Its body was transfer to the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Sakha ( Yakutia ) and has since undergone an autopsy by scientist at the Mammoth Museum of the North - Eastern Federal University and the European University at Saint Petersburg .
The inner organs of the wolf specimen are remarkably well-preserved - which is good news for the researchers.Image credit: North-Eastern Federal University
Under sterile condition , the team cut start the carcase and assume samples of its internal electric organ , as well as the contents of the gastrointestinal piece of land . By looking at the bacterium in its gumption , it could be possible to learn about thewolf’sdiet and health .
“ His venter has been preserved in an detached form , there are no contaminants , so the labor is not trivial . As a result of the cooking , we hope to get a shot of the biota of the ancient Pleistocene . It was an combat-ready and magnanimous predator , we have the chance to feel out what it ate . In add-on , the object that his dupe consumed also end up in his stomach , ” Albert Protopopov , brain of the department for the study of mammoth fauna of the Academy of Sciences of Yakutia , said in astatement .
“ In add-on , we selected one premolar tooth in ordering to determine the biological old age of the find . judge by the habiliment of the tooth and the maturation of the sagittal ridgeline , we can say that this is an grownup male , ” bring Maxim Cheprasov , head of the laboratory at the North - Eastern Federal University Mammoth Museum .
The guts of the frozen wolf may contain bacteria that have survived since the Ice Age.Image credit: North-Eastern Federal University
The researchers go for that some of the microorganisms that inhabit the fauna ’s inside might even still be inhabit , suspended in a hibernation - same state for thousands upon thousands of year under sub - zero temperature . If they havesurvived , there ’s a probability they could even be used to inform innovative - mean solar day biomedicine .
" Our scientific cooperation with the NEFU Mammoth Museum has allow us to learn more about the bacteria that inhabited the gigantic steppe , starting from the Pleistocene period . We see that living bacterium can survive in dodo animal finds for one thousand of age , which are a kind of informant of those ancient times , ” note Artemy Goncharov , a professor in the Department of Epidemiology , Parasitology , and Disinfection at North - Western State Medical University .
“ We hope for undecomposed results that will allow us to boost a little further in empathise what ancient microbic communities were , what function they performed , and to what extent dangerous infective bacteria were represented in their social structure . Perhaps , microorganisms will be discovered that can be used in medicine and biotechnology as promising producers of biologically active substances , ” Goncharov added .
This is n’t the only exciting specimen hold by the North - Eastern Federal University ; they also latterly win another frozen wolf receive in the Nizhnekolymsk region of Yakutia , Siberia , and contrive to begin take it after wrapping up research on the current carcass .
This part of the world is abundant inpermafrost , a permanently glacial layer of stain under the Earth ’s top control surface , which acts as an ideal textile to agree and uphold animation specimens from the Ice Age . A various menagerie of ancient animals have been discovered in this desperately cold patch of Siberia in recent time , includinga 49,000 - year - erstwhile birdand a attractively preservedpuppy named “ Dogor ” .
