[ad_1]
Liquid blood was collected from the remarkably preserved remains of a foal buried in the Siberian permafrost 42,000 years ago, scientists said.
The foal covered with mud was found fully intact last year. Since then, it has been cleaned up and revealed an animal described as being a berry, with a black mane and tail, with a dark band along its back.
The media describe the foal as an extinct species. It's called the Lenskaya horse, or Lena (Equus lenensis). It is said that he is genetically different from those who currently live in Yakutia.
A remarkable series of images were also put online, showing the first investigations on the remains of the foal and the incredible preservation of details.
The autopsy of the remains revealed well-preserved organs and the muscles retained their natural color.
Liquid blood was collected from the blood vessels near the heart, well preserved thanks to the excellent burial conditions.
Semyon Grigoryev, who heads the Mammoth Museum in Yakutsk, told Russian media that the foal was the best preserved ice age animal discovered to date.
He was as young as two weeks at the time of his death, probably drowning in the mud that finally froze.
Efforts are under way to clone the colt, with scientists from the Northeast Federal University working with biotechnology experts in South Korea. Efforts are focused on finding a suitable cell for cloning. After having manufactured a cloned embryo, it would then be implanted in a modern mare.
However, obtaining a viable cell from such ancient remnants has never been achieved. The main challenge comes from the nature of freezing, in which the water crystallizes in the cells and destroys them.
the Siberian weather reports that the work is so advanced that the team would have chosen a mother to carry the clone.
The foal was found at a depth of 30 meters in the famous Batagaika crater, a 1-kilometer drop-shaped cut in the Republic of Sakha in Russia, near the Kirgilyak Mountains.
The discovery was made by researchers from the Institute of Scientific Research in Northern Applied Ecology, which is part of the Northeastern Federal University, and the Japanese Kindai University, as well as than a TV crew from the Fuji TV company.
Modern yakutian horses are considered the most robust in the world, able to survive winter temperatures as low as minus 60 degrees Celsius.
In the meantime, a Paleontological Seminar on Foal was held at the Mammoth Museum of the Northeastern Federal University.
"The study of the materials will give a general idea of the microflora of the old horse," said Yan Ahremenko, badociate professor in the department of histology and microbiology at the university's medical institute.
"Perhaps we will find microorganisms of lactic acid and old bifidobacteria, as in the case of the mammoth, in the intestines of which a great bacterial biocenosis has been discovered."
Scientists also performed tomography and digitization of the foal's carcbad to create a 3D model of the outer surface of the carcbad and its internal structure.
Related
[ad_2]
Source link
