Scientists have discovered a woolly rhino that was so well preserved in the Russian permafrost for more than 32,000 years that its skin and fur are still intact.
This hairy rhino died when it was about four years old, and that age, combined with its good state of preservation, has allowed scientists to learn more about the now-extinct species.
“The vast, vast majority of Ice Age animal remains are bones and teeth without flesh or skin or anything like that,” Lav Dalen, a professor of evolutionary genomics at Stockholm University, who was not involved in this study, told CNN. , but has studied the remains of other animals found preserved in the Siberian permafrost.
“There’s probably a one in 10,000 or so chance of encountering something like this (rhinoceros). Given that, there are several samples that come out of the permafrost every year, so it seems to be happening on an almost annual basis.”
The findings of this study, detailed in a paper published in the journal Doklady Earth Sciences, revealed that the hairy rhino had a large fatty hump on its back and that its fur changed color as it grew.
When this woolly rhinoceros roamed eastern Siberia more than 30,000 years ago, it would have been “one of the largest herbivores in the Ice Age ecosystem, second only to the woolly mammoth,” and grazed the grasslands there, Dahlen said.
Like its modern counterparts, the hairy rhino had two horns, but one of them was “a very large, blade-shaped horn, which is quite unique,” he added, compared to the rounder horns of a modern rhino.
Once this hairy rhinoceros died, it remained frozen in permafrost until a team of Russian scientists from research institutions in Yakutsk and Moscow discovered it in August 2020 on the banks of the Tirekhtyakh River.
The study does not detail exactly how the remains were found, but in this area of Siberia, Dalen explained, local Russians dig tunnels through the permafrost in search of mammoth tusks to sell. Under an agreement with local authorities in the area where the hairy rhino was found, tusk hunters must contact paleontologists whenever they discover something interesting, like this mummified hairy rhino, meaning there’s a steady stream of well-preserved specimens especially from this area.
After the animal was discovered, scientists temporarily thawed it before taking samples of its fur, skin and hump for testing. While the rhino’s right side remained well preserved in the permafrost, its left side was so badly damaged that scientists concluded it had been eaten by predators. His internal organs were exposed and most of his intestines were missing, the study noted.
On his back, the scientists noticed a hump up to 13 centimeters long that was filled with a fatty mass. This is a relatively common trait among Arctic animals, Dahlen said, and provides a way for them to store energy for the winter and convert energy from food into heat without shivering like humans.
By comparing this specimen, which had light brown fur and a much lighter and softer undercoat, with others of different ages, the researchers concluded that young woolly rhinos had light, even blond, fur that later became more dark and rougher as they reached maturity.
Samples like this are important for future research, Dahlen said, because there are types of genetic tests that can only be performed on tissue, not bone.
Source: CNN
