Russia - 40,000-year-old Ice Age wolf head found in Siberia

[S.J.B.]

40,000-year-old Ice Age wolf head found in Siberia
Alec Luhn
The Telegraph
June 11th, 2019

Russian and Japanese scientists have unveiled the first intact adult head of an Ice Age wolf species, which was preserved in permafrost for 40,000 years.

They hope that the unique find will help them learn more about an ancient predator that roamed Europe and Asia alongside the woolly rhinoceros and mammoth, including its ultimate fate.

"We want to answer the question of whether these wolves disappeared or turned into modern wolves, how much they are related to modern wolves," Albert Protopopov, head of mammoth fauna studies at the Yakutia academy of sciences, told The Telegraph.

Still covered in thick fur and sporting a vicious-looking set of fangs, the 40-centimetre head was made public at a woolly mammoth exhibition in Tokyo last week. The wolf was between two and four years old when it met its end.

The head was found on the Tirekhtyakh river by locals hunting for lucrative mammoth tusks in the remote Siberian region of Yakutia last year. Well-preserved infant cave lions have been previously discovered nearby.

Read the full story here.

NSFW:

 

[TheLoveBandit]

Very cool....no pun intended.

 

[novaveritas]

Maybe frozen wolf head is coming to an Explorers Club menu shortly:
shame the frozen Mammoth was fake.
]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4740485/

 

[Tonberry King]

So, this particular head is half the size of modern day wolf's body, if I am remembering correctly. That leads to the question what is naturally capable of decapitating the heads of dire wolves? Makes you think....

 

[swilow]

Interesting read. I suppose that both species decline as well as hybridisation is probably at play here in shaping this animals fate.

hat leads to the question what is naturally capable of decapitating the heads of dire wolves?

The Lannister's send their regards.

Couldn't shake this image from my mind. All hail.

Spoiler: The King in the North

 

[cduggles]

Now I have two images of dead wolves stuck in my head ?