Editor’s note: Associated Press reported Des Moines University said journalists and other readers should not consider the wolf news release. The following is based on reports about the original version.
In 2016, Neil Loveless, a gold miner, came across a complete wolf mummy while throwing a wall of permafrost with a water cannon in search of wealth in the Yukon Territory of Canada.
Immediately after the discovery, Loveless put the mammal in a freezer until paleontologists could look at it, National Geographic reports.
In a recent study published by Des Moines University, paleontologists found that the well-preserved animal was a juvenile female and a member of an extinct Pleistocene ecosystem, a time when wildlife in northwestern Canada had mastodons and other megafauna.
(Editor’s note: The Associated Press later reported that Des Moines University said journalists and other readers should ignore the news release – “Mother of Old Wolf Cubs Discovered in the Yukon Permafrost” – issued earlier, December 18, 2020, on GlobeNewswire. It is not clear why the press release was ignored.)
The young would have been called Zhùr, meaning “wolf” in the Hän language, by the locals Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, reports USA Today.
“The specimen has special significance for local people Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, who agreed to place Zhùr on display at the Yukon Beringia Interpretation Center in Whitehorse,” a press release said, according to USA Today.
Des Moines University posted a picture of the mummified chicken on Twitter on December 21:
“(Zhùr) is the most complete and oldest mummy of a wolf ever found,” said Julie Meachen, an associate professor of anatomy at Des Moines University. “It’s very rare, in fact, to have such mummies in North America. They are much more common in Siberia. “
According to National Geographic, Zhùr appears to have died during a crash, and the quick burial facilitated the exceptional preservation of her body. Other mammals of this era, such as arctic squirrels and black-footed ferrets, have also been found preserved in the same way. Meachen says this process “lyophilizes” the chicks’ bodies.
An analysis of the chick’s genome revealed that it is descended “from ancient wolves in Russia, Siberia and Alaska, which are the ancestors of modern wolves as well,” the statement said. Studies have also shown that before his untimely death, the chicken had recently gone from crying to eating more solid foods such as fish, according to National Geographic.
Animal behavior during the Pleistocene is still largely a mystery to paleontologists, but discoveries such as Zhùr provide important clues and provide researchers with renewed energy.
“I mean, when I saw it, I was so pleased with how beautifully it is preserved,” said Meachen (via USA Today).