![]() ![]() Zhùr is on display at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Center in Whitehorse. “Studying this complete wolf pup allows us to reconstruct how this wolf lived during the Ice Age in ways that would not be possible by looking at fossil bones alone.” While burrowing animals from this era like arctic ground squirrels and black-footed ferrets have also been found in similar condition, “Mummified remains of ancient animals in North America are incredibly rare,” says Zazula in a statement. However, wolves living in the Yukon today have a different genetic signature, which means Zhùr’s population was eventually wiped out and replaced by another. Genetic data suggests Zhùr had distant relatives in Eurasia and Alaska. Instead, they concluded that a den collapse likely killed Zhùr.įurther analysis shows her diet was fish-heavy, which suggests she may have hunted with her mother along rivers as modern wolves do today. Scientists ruled out starvation or predator attack as causes of death because she was so pristinely preserved. X-rays of her bones and teeth showed she was just under seven weeks old when she died, according to a study published in Current Biology. The Ice Age animal was found on the ancestral land of the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in people, who named her Zhùr, which means wolf in Hän. He’d unearthed a near-perfectly preserved female gray wolf pup that died 57,000 years ago. What scientists have learned: In 2016, a gold miner blasting a hydraulic water cannon at frozen mud discovered an object paleontologists recognized as a treasure. She's basically 100% intact-all that's missing are her eyes,” study coauthor Julie Meachen, a paleontologist at Des Moines University in Iowa, said in a press release. What makes this find remarkable: "She's the most complete wolf mummy that's ever been found. Zhùr, a mummified wolf pup who lived some 57,000 years ago, was found by a miner in Canada's sparsely populated Yukon territory, where permafrost has preserved remarkable paleontological finds for millennia. Near-Perfectly Preserved Wolf Pup Scientific name: Canis lupus Here are five fascinating finds that paint a picture of the Yukon’s past. ![]() As climate change advances, permafrost is also thawing rapidly and releasing its contents-a gold rush of sorts for paleontologists. Likewise, since the Klondike Gold Rush at the turn of the 20th century, miners have uncovered many gargantuan bones-Ice Age relics that continue to be found en masse at mines and river banks today. First Nations people have deep historic knowledge of Ice Age animals as well as their fossils. Today, scientists know how these animals lived and died because their bones and bodies are so well-preserved in permafrost. Ancient genes can be easily extracted from bones and soft tissue, and scientists have even found intact genetic material in soil samples. Permafrost’s cool touch perfectly preserves nearly anything within it, including DNA. When these animals died, their bodies likely decomposed, and anything that wasn’t scavenged became part of the frozen ground. Giant ancestors of camels, sloths, lions, hyenas and many others populated the landscape. Wooly mammoths migrated to North America from Europe and Asia, and generations of Ice Age horses originating in North America may have crossed the land bridge more than once. This revealed the floor of the Bering Sea, creating a passage between Alaska and Siberia known as Beringia.Īncient animals made the journey tens of thousands of years before humans, and the Yukon became a vibrant home for giant creatures known as megafauna. Because most of the world’s water was locked up in ice, sea level is estimated to have been as much as 500 feet lower than it is today. During this time, most of North America was covered in glaciers, but conditions in what’s now the Yukon were too dry for glaciers to form. ![]() They are descended from the last waves of ancient people who journeyed over the Bering Land Bridge from what is now Siberia at least 15,000 years ago-before the crossing flooded at the end of the last glacial period.Ĭommonly known as the last Ice Age, the last glacial period began about 100,000 years ago. Though moose outnumber people by almost twofold, the Yukon has a bustling mining industry and 14 First Nations groups have thrived on the land for thousands of years. For the most part, only moss, lichen and shallow-rooted shrubs can grow in the tundra. Winters in this northwest corner of Canada are harsh, but the warm summer months are illuminated by sunshine until midnight.Įven further north, however, rests the treeless alpine tundra where frigid temperatures permanently keep the ground frozen. In Canada’s Yukon territory, towering pine and spruce forests drape over rolling hills and the Yukon River and its winding tributaries cut valleys into the landscape. ![]()
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