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Researchers say a cave lion cub considered the best-preserved ice age animal ever to be found dates back more than 28,000 years.
A study published in Quaternary magazine details the discovery of two baby cave lions mummified in the Siberian Arctic by local mammoth tusk collectors in 2017 and 2018. Extinct cave lions were widespread throughout eastern Siberia during the late Pleistocene and were a plus grandparent of the African lions that live today.
The researchers initially thought that the two cubs, which would be 1 or 2 months old when they died, were siblings, as they were discovered a few dozen meters apart. But the new study found that they differed in age by about 15,000 years.
A female nicknamed “Sparta” dates back about 28,000 years, while “Boris”, a male, is over 43,000 years old, according to radiocarbon dating.
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The study details how Sparta was preserved in permafrost in near perfect condition. The little one’s fur is almost intact, as are its teeth, skin, soft tissues and organs.
“Sparta is probably the best-preserved Ice Age animal ever found and is more or less intact, aside from the somewhat ruffled fur. She even kept the mustache. Boris is a little more damaged, but still quite good, ”Love Dalen, professor of evolutionary genetics at the Center for Paleogenetics in Stockholm and author of the study, told CNN.
“In view of their conservation, they must have been buried very quickly. So maybe they died in a mudslide or fell into a permafrost crack, ”said Dalen.
The researchers found that the cave lions’ coat closely resembled that of the modern African lion cub, but with a long, thick undercoat of fur that likely helped them adapt to the harsh conditions in the region.
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