A 44,000-year-old mummified wolf was found in the permafrost of Siberia: its organs, fur, and teeth were miraculously preserved. Photo.

A first-of-its-kind find of a fully mummified wolf, more than 44,000 years old, has been discovered in the permafrost of Siberia. Scientists have now completed a necropsy (animal autopsy) of the ancient predator, which was discovered near a river in the Sakha Republic in 2021.

Experts say that the adult male wolf has amazingly preserved fur, bones and even organs, as well as teeth. According to scientists, this discovery will help to better understand life in the region during the last ice age, Live Science reports.

Autopsy photos show the mummified body of a wolf in detail. Animals are preserved in permafrost using a type of mummification that involves cold and dry conditions. The soft tissues are dehydrated, allowing the body to be preserved in a frozen time capsule.

"Its stomach was preserved in isolation, there are no pollutants, so the task is not trivial. We hope to get a picture of the biota of the ancient Pleistocene," said Albert Protopopov, head of the Department of Mammoth Fauna Studies at the Academy of Sciences of Yakutia.

According to the scientists, this research project will help them understand ancient microbial communities and the role of harmful bacteria during this period. "It is possible that microorganisms will be discovered that can be used in medicine and biotechnology as promising producers of biologically active substances," the scientist explained.

The wolf autopsy is part of an ongoing project to study wildlife that lived in the region in the Pleistocene. Other species studied include ancient hares, horses, and a bear from the Holocene. The team plans to study the wolf's genome to understand how it is related to other ancient wolves from the region and how it compares to its living relatives. The team is now planning to begin studying another ancient wolf discovered in the Nizhnekolymsky district in northeastern Siberia in 2023.

Earlier, OBOZ.UA reported that a new species of fish with human-like teeth and an eye on its back that resembles the eye of the dark lord Sauron from the cult movie The Lord of the Rings was discovered in the Amazon basin.

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