Bear from Ice Age found entirely protected in Russian Arctic
The bear was revealed by the melting ice on the Lyakhovsky Islands in north-eastern Russia.
With its teeth and nose intact, the bear is believed to be a species of brownish bear that lived 22,000 to 39,500 years ago.
It will be researched at the North-Eastern Federal University (NEFU) in the city of Yakutsk.
Researchers at the university, recognized for its study into woolly mammoths and other ancient types, suggested the discovery was unprecedented.
Dr Lena Grigorieva, a palaeontology researcher at the university, said the bear was “the initial and only find of its kind” to be recovered in once item with “soft tissue”.
” It is completely protected, with all interior organs in position, also including its nose,” Dr Grigorieva said.
” Previously, only skulls and bones were found. This find is of fantastic importance for the entire globe.”
Dr Grigorieva told the BBC the animal is believed to be an old family member of the brown bear, a big species found across Eurasia and North America today.
Various other Russian researchers will be welcomed to sign up with the study, with more details to be revealed quickly, the NEFU said in a news release on Monday.
“It is necessary to perform radiocarbon evaluation to determine the precise age of the bear,” the university quoted Maxim Cheprasov of the Mammoth Museum laboratory as saying.
The bear carcass was found by reindeer herders on Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island, the largest of the Lyakhovsky Islands, which are part of the New Siberian Islands archipelago that exists between the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea.
Separately, the managed carcass of a bear cub was found in Russia’s far-eastern region of Yakutia, likewise referred to as the Sakha Republic. DNA testing will be performed.
Current years have actually seen major discoveries of mammoths, woolly rhinos, foal, several puppies and cave-lion cubs as the ice melts throughout vast locations in the Russian region of Siberia.
Last year, an 18,000-year-old pup was found completely protected with teeth and fur in the ice of Siberia.
