Some discoveries always seem to amaze us. Like the 50,000 year-old remains of a rare woolly rhinoceros trapped in the permafrost in Siberia. The frozen body was excavated from the Abyisky district of the Sakha Republic. The remains were first discovered by a local in Siberia, Alexei Savin, as reported by the news.
Savin actually stumbled upon the frozen carcass while walking near the Tirekhtyakh River in Yakutia, Siberia, some months back. What is amazing is that this woolly rhino was found close to the site where a previous baby woolly rhino named Sasha was discovered back in 2014. Woolly Rhinos were believed to have been prevalent in Russia, Europe, and northern Asia thousands upon thousands of years ago until they became extinct.
The young woolly rhino would have been around 3-4 years old when it perished, presumably from drowning. This is according to paleontologist Albert Protopopov of the Academy of Sciences of the Sakha Republic. The only other woolly rhino discovered in these regions, Sasha, was dated to be from around 34,000 years ago. But Protopopov estimates that the newly discovered body could be anywhere from 20,000 to 50,000 years old.
Protopopov explained that despite the body being there for so long, “among other things, part of the internal organs are preserved, which in the future will make it possible to study in more detail how the species ate and lived.” he further added, “ Earlier, not even the bone remains of individuals of this age were found, not to mention the preserved carcasses of animals. As a rule, these were either cubs or adults.”
Valery Plotnikov, a fellow paleontologist from the Academy of Sciences further adds, “We have learned that woolly rhinoceroses were covered in very thick hair. Previously we could judge this only from rock paintings discovered in France. Now, judging by the thick coat with the undercoat, we can conclude that the rhinoceroses were fully adapted to the cold climate very much from a young age.”
Hopefully more amazing discoveries will be uncovered. Knowing the past inhabitants of the planet, and how they lived will definitely be interesting for decades to come. Surely the permafrost in Siberia is still hiding many secrets, only time will tell. While ancient history may not really be that interesting, discovering frozen and preserved bodies of the past can give us a glimpse of how the world was back then.
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