- Researchers are studying a 44,000-year-old mummified wolf found in the permafrost in Russia.
- The wolf may be able to tell scientists about its lifestyle and diet during the Pleistocene.
- Researchers hope to learn more about ancient bacteria and the relationship between the wolf and modern animals.
This wolf still looks pretty good for its age, especially considering it is 44,000 years old.
In 2021, residents of Yakutia in eastern Russia found the wolf in thick permafrost – ground that normally remains frozen year-round but is beginning to thaw in many places as average global temperatures rise.
Now researchers from North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk, Russia, are studying the mummified remains to learn more about the animal.
The frozen conditions helped mummify and perfectly preserve the Pleistocene predator, with its teeth and much of its fur still intact, as well as some organs.
“It’s actually shocking,” Robert Losey, an anthropologist at the University of Alberta who was not involved in the study, told Business Insider.
“It’s the only adult Pleistocene wolf ever found, so that in itself is quite remarkable and completely unique,” he added.
There is a lot to learn from such a well-preserved ancient animal, for example about its genetics, lifestyle, diet and even which ancient bacteria and viruses it had.
“Living bacteria can survive for thousands of years and are a kind of witness to those ancient times,” said Artemy Goncharov, a researcher at the Institute of Experimental Medicine, in a translated statement.
The wolf’s stomach can hold its last meal and much more
This 44,000-year-old wolf is likely an extinct species and was probably larger than modern wolves, Losey said. By studying the animal’s genome, we can figure out where it fits into the canine family tree.
After examining one of its teeth, scientists believe the wolf was an adult male. He probably hunted in a flat, cold environment full of mammoths, woolly rhinos, extinct horses, bison and reindeer.
Remains of some of those animals can even remain in the wolf’s intestines. Researchers have taken samples from the stomach and digestive tract to learn more and are waiting for the results.
The researchers may can also figure out what functions ancient microbes performed in the wolf’s gut, and whether it harbored parasites, Losey said. If any of the microorganisms are unknown to science, they could play a role in the development of future medicines, the researchers said in the statement.
This discovery is just part of a larger collaboration to study other ancient animals, including fossil hares, a horse and a bear. The researchers previously studied a Pleistocene-era wolf head and have another wolf fossil awaiting dissection.
Old animals and infectious agents are thawing
As the world’s permafrost thaws due to rising global temperatures, more and more ancient creatures like these are reemerging. In the Yukon, for example, paleontologists are still admiring an immaculately preserved baby mammoth discovered in 2022.
However, not everything in the permafrost is so harmless.
In 2016, a thaw on Siberia’s Yamal Peninsula released anthrax from a once-frozen reindeer carcass, causing an outbreak that infected 36 people and killed one child.
Researchers fear that other pathogens may be lurking in the tundra as the thaw of a warming world slowly approaches them.
Last year, researcher Jean-Michel Claverie announced that he had revived a 48,000-year-old virus they found in Siberian permafrost. It could still infect single-celled amoebae.
“We consider these amoeba-infecting viruses to be surrogates for all the other possible viruses that could be in the permafrost,” Claverie told CNN at the time. “We see traces of many other viruses. So we know they are there. We don’t know for sure if they are alive.”
Any ancient viruses or bacteria in the Yakutia wolf’s gut could help researchers better understand the microbes hiding in permafrost animals.