Well preserved for 57,000 years
A gold miner discovered a perfectly intact wolf pup mummy while digging the permafrost (permanently frozen grounds for atleast two years) in Yukon, Canada, in the Klondike gold fields near Dawson City. It belonged to the Ice Age, which was 57,000 years ago.
Researchers while analysing the specimen found that it was a female and belongs to the grey wolf (Canis lupus) species. ts soft tissues, hair, skin, little nose, and intestines were well preserved. X-ray images of the ancient wolf pup’s teeth revealed she was only 7 weeks old when she died.
The bone analysis helped to find what their diet was. They mostly had aquatic foods such as Chinook salmon. It had similarities both to Beringian wolves, an extinct group that lived in ancient Yukon and Alaska, and Russian grey wolves.
