Researchers have discovered what they believe was the unusual last meal of a prehistoric pup that lived 14,000 years ago.
After a reanalysis of the mummified rooster, the team found preserved remains of a woolly rhinoceros that was hidden in the stomach – complete with the yellow fur of the animal.
The ancient canine, whether a wolf or a dog, appeared frozen in time. The fur, the heart, the lungs, the teeth and the stomach were all intact when it was first discovered in 2011.
Scientists named the three-month-old female Tumat, after the village where it was discovered in the Sakha Republic of Russia. They believe it, and found another dog nearby, died in a landing during the late ice age.
The incredibly well-preserved remains of a 14,000-year-old puppy were discovered in Siberia in 2011. The dog, a three-month-old female researcher named Tumat, still had his fur, heart, lungs, teeth and stomach intact.
The cool Siberian atmosphere helped preserve both specimens, ‘essentially like a giant freezer, keeping things cold for thousands of years,’ ‘said researcher Edana Lord of the Center for Paleogenetics Inverse.
“If an animal is buried soon after it dies – if it falls into a crevice, for example – it can mummify,” she continued.
While plant remains have previously been found in prehistoric digestive systems, ‘it is very unusual to find tissue from another animal stored in the stomach,’ Lord said.
Initially, researchers believed that the monster came from a cave lizard, a large cat that became extinct about 13,000 years ago.
Inside Tumat’s stomach, scientists found the remains of another animal. While plant material can appear in digestive tract, ‘it is very unusual to find tissue from another animal’, said Edana Lord of the Center for Paleogenetics
But using DNA sequencing, they were able to determine that the prehistoric snack was actually a woolly rhinoceros.
Their findings were published this month in a report in Current Biology.
The discovery could provide an abundance of information on prehistoric dog behavior, diet, and evolutionary history.
For example, it is unlikely that a puppy could take a rhino by itself.
Lord theorizes it may be part of a package if it is possible that the baby had itself in the early human hunters.
Edana Lord sampling woolen rhinoceros DNA in a lab. Her team initially believed the remains were from a cave. But using DNA sequencing, they were able to determine that the prehistoric morsel was actually a woolly rhinoceros
Previous research suggests that dogs may have been domesticated until 32,000 years ago, according to Nature.
“It’s really very interesting to speculate,” Lord said.
Having well-preserved bone and tissue samples from both the predator and its prey makes DNA analysis easier, she added, “so we can get more genetic information from them and even sequence their entire genomes.”
An image of the reconstructed remains of a baby woolly rhinoceros discovered in Siberia. It is unlikely that Tumat could have taken off a rhino herself, but she could have hunted with a suit as the ‘pet’ of early humans
The same report states that the woolly rhino was eventually killed by climate change, not overrun by humans, as previously thought.
Once common in Europe and North Asia, the woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) disappeared about 14,000 to 15,000 years ago.
Initially, the arrival of people in the region was dated to about the same time. Images of the woolly rhino have been found in cave paintings in Europe and Asia.
Paleontologists speculate overheating caused the rhino and other Pleistocene creatures, such as the woolly mammoth, to become extinct.
But the recent discovery of older human habitats in Siberia, some dated 30,000 years ago, means that the deaths of animals are not in line with humans entering the scene.
Human hunters were not responsible for killing the woolly rhino, according to the new study, published this month in Current Biology. Instead, scientists say, climate change was to blame
Lord and her team analyzed taken from more than a dozen different rhinos, and found that their population remained ‘stable and diverse’ until just a few millennia before they disappeared.
‘If anything, we’re actually seeing something resembling an increase in the population during this period. ‘said lead author Love Dalén, an evolutionary geneticist with the Swedish Natural History Museum.
Dalén said the species, well adapted to the harsh weather of Siberia, simply could not cope with rising temperatures during a short warming period, known as the Bølling-Allerød interstadial.
‘We get away from the idea that people take over everything once they get into an environment, and instead illuminate the role of climate,’ Lord added.
‘While we cannot rule out human involvement, we do suggest that the extinction of the woolly rhinoceros was more likely related to climate. ‘
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