Moscow (AFP) - The hunters searching for mammoth tusks were drawn to the steep riverbank by a deposit of ancient bones. To their astonishment, they discovered an Ice Age puppy's snout peeking out from the permafrost.
Five years later, a pair of puppies perfectly preserved in Russia's far northeast region of Yakutia and dating back 12,460 years has mobilised scientists across the world.
"To find a carnivorous mammal intact with skin, fur and internal organs -- this has never happened before in history," said Sergei Fyodorov, head of exhibitions at the Mammoth Museum of the North-Eastern Federal University in the regional capital of Yakutsk.
And the discovery could contribute to the lively scientific debate over the origin of domesticated dogs.
When the hunters stumbled on the first frozen pup in 2011, they alerted Fyodorov who immediately flew out to the remote Arctic tundra, about 4,700 kilometres (2,900 miles) from Moscow and only 130 kilometres from the Laptev Sea, which borders the Arctic Ocean.
Last year he returned for a more thorough look and found the second puppy close to the same spot, farther down the slope. Both had died when they were about three months old.
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All breeds of domesticated dogs can be traced back to their ancestor, the wolf.
ReplyDeleteTime travelers are evident everywhere.They took a litter of puppies back 12 thousand or so years to see what difference they would make in the evolution of modern canines.They made zero difference because they did not survive.Wolves were indeed a fixture at that time.Modern dogs were not.Modern items have been found encased in rock thousands of years old because someone dropped or lost them while time travelling.A ring watch comes to mind found in China.
ReplyDeleteI time travel and have never lost a single thing...
ReplyDeleteMe neither. But if I did, I'd just go back over and over until I found it!
DeleteDogs began domestication far longer back than 12,000 years.
ReplyDeleteThis was a cool article.
ReplyDelete