This photo shows the wolf’s dad’s head with a tooth. Credit: Yukon Government
Filling water on a frozen mud wall in the Yukon, Canada, a gold miner made an extraordinary discovery: a perfectly preserved wolf pup that had been in the permafrost for 57,000 years. The remarkable status of a pup named Zur by the local Trondech Hwachin people gave researchers much insight into its age, lifestyle, and relationship to the modern wolf. The findings appear in the December 21 journal Current Biology.
“It’s the perfect wolf mummy ever found. She’s basically 100% intact – all that’s missing is her eyes, “says Julie Machin, an associate professor of anatomy at the University of Des Moines.” Allowed several lines of investigation to be carried out on it. “
One of the most important questions about the poison that researchers wanted to answer was how it was preserved in permafrost to begin with. It takes a unique combination of circumstances to create a permafrost mummy.
“These mummies are rare in the Yukon. The animal has to die in a permafrost place, where the soil is always frozen, and they are buried very quickly, just like the process of other fossils, “says Mission.” . “
This photo shows the wolf meeting Papp. Credit: Yukon Government
Another important factor is how the wolf died. Animals that die slowly or are hunted by predators are found in ancient conditions. “We think she was in search and Dan died instantly by the fall,” says Michen. “Our data show that she doesn’t starve and she was about 7 weeks old when she died, so we feel a little better knowing that the poor little girl didn’t have to suffer for too long.”
In addition to learning how Zur died, the team was also able to analyze his diet. As it turned out, her diet was greatly affected by how close she stays to water. “Usually when you think of wolves in the Ice Age, you think of them eating bison or musk oxen or other large animals on the ground. One of the things that surprised us was that it ate aquatic resources, especially salmon. “
Analysis of the Tsar’s genome also confirmed that he was a native of ancient wolves in Russia, Siberia, and Alaska, as well as ancestors of modern wolves. Although researchers have given many answers about wolves of the past from Tsar’s analysis, there are still some outstanding questions about Zhar and his family.
This photo shows an X-ray view of a wolf cub. Credit: Yukon Government
“We were asked if he was the only wolf that had a single wolf. And what happened to his mom or siblings?” “It simply came to our notice then. Or the other wolves were not at an angle during the fall. Unfortunately, we will never know. ”
The specimen is of particular importance to the local Tron ëk Huachin people, who have agreed to display the Zur at the White UK’s UK uk Beringia Interpretive Center. She is clean and protected so that it will remain intact for years to come, so that she can travel to other Yukon destinations as well. And the research team predicts that more and more permafrost mummies could be found in the coming years.
“One of the tricks of the trade is that we’ll find more mummies as the permafrost melts,” says Mission. “It’s a great way for science to recreate that time better, but it also shows us how hot our planet really is. We really need to be careful. “
References: Julie Machen, Matthew J. Wooler, Benjamin d. “A Mummified Pleistocene Gray Wolf Pop” by Burst, Juliet F. Knuck, Carly Crane, Jess Heath, Molly Cassette-Johnstone, Beth Shapiro, Elizabeth Hall, Susan Hewison and Grant Zazula Current Biology.
DOI: 10.1016 / j.cub.2020.11.011
This work was awarded to Dr. Matthew Wooler of the U.A.F. Supported by the Murdoch Charitable Trust.
