jobberone
Kane Ala
- Messages
- 54,219
- Reaction score
- 19,659
Remains of long-extinct cave lion cubs unveiled in Russia
By Walt Bonner
Published November 19, 2015
FoxNews.com
(Vera Salnitskaya/The Siberian Times)
Two well–preserved cave lion cubs, complete with fur, ears, and whiskers, were unveiled Tuesday in Russia. They were discovered in a Siberian ice sheet in Yakutia this past summer, marking the first time humans have seen the extinct species in over 10,000 years.
“The findings of such well-preserved [specimens] is an extremely rare find,” Albert Protopopov, head of the Department of Mammoth Fauna Studies in Yakutsk, told FoxNews.com. “The new discovery is of great importance to science, as for the first time [we’ve] found the frozen carcasses of an extinct species from more than ten thousand years ago, the cave lion.”
Related: 'Hobbits' were a separate species, ancient chompers show
About the size of two fat domestic cats, the baby cave lions were introduced in a presentation at the “Permafrost Kingdom” museum, 3,000 miles east of Moscow. Dubbed Uyan and Dina for the Uyandina River area in which they were found, the cubs have such well–preserved soft tissues that local Academy of Science researchers believe that cloning may be a distinct possibility, though that’s a ways off. For now, the scientists are focusing on inspecting the cubs’ internal organs and DNA with the hope of learning more about the species origins.
Related Image
(Vera Salnitskaya/The Siberian Times)
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/11/19/remains-long-extinct-cave-lion-cubs-unveiled-in-russia.html
By Walt Bonner
Published November 19, 2015
FoxNews.com
(Vera Salnitskaya/The Siberian Times)
Two well–preserved cave lion cubs, complete with fur, ears, and whiskers, were unveiled Tuesday in Russia. They were discovered in a Siberian ice sheet in Yakutia this past summer, marking the first time humans have seen the extinct species in over 10,000 years.
“The findings of such well-preserved [specimens] is an extremely rare find,” Albert Protopopov, head of the Department of Mammoth Fauna Studies in Yakutsk, told FoxNews.com. “The new discovery is of great importance to science, as for the first time [we’ve] found the frozen carcasses of an extinct species from more than ten thousand years ago, the cave lion.”
Related: 'Hobbits' were a separate species, ancient chompers show
About the size of two fat domestic cats, the baby cave lions were introduced in a presentation at the “Permafrost Kingdom” museum, 3,000 miles east of Moscow. Dubbed Uyan and Dina for the Uyandina River area in which they were found, the cubs have such well–preserved soft tissues that local Academy of Science researchers believe that cloning may be a distinct possibility, though that’s a ways off. For now, the scientists are focusing on inspecting the cubs’ internal organs and DNA with the hope of learning more about the species origins.
Related Image
(Vera Salnitskaya/The Siberian Times)
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/11/19/remains-long-extinct-cave-lion-cubs-unveiled-in-russia.html
