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Editor’s note: The Associated Press reported Des Moines University said reporters and other readers should ignore the wolf puppy press release. The following is based on reports on the original version.
In 2016, Gold miner Neil Loveless stumbled upon a complete wolf mummy while blowing up a permafrost wall with a water cannon in search of riches in Canada’s Yukon Territory.
Immediately after its discovery, Loveless placed the mammal in a freezer until paleontologists could examine it, reports National Geographic.
In a study recently published by the University of Des Moines, paleontologists revealed that the well-preserved animal was a juvenile female and member of an ecosystem extinct from the Pleistocene era, a time when the fauna of the northwestern part of the Canada had behemoths and other megafauna.
(Editor’s Note: The Associated Press later reported that Des Moines University said reporters and other readers should ignore the press release – titled “Ancient Wolf Mummy Found in Yukon Permafrost” – posted earlier today on December 18, 2020 on GlobeNewswire. It is not clear why the press release was ignored.)
The puppy was reportedly named Zhùr, which means ‘wolf’ in the Hän language, by the local Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in people, USA Today reports.
“The specimen is of particular significance to the local Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, who have agreed to place Zhùr on display at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Center in Whitehorse,” a press release said, according to USA Today.
Des Moines University released an image of the mummified puppy on Twitter December 21:
“(Zhùr) is the most complete and oldest wolf mummy ever found,” said Julie Meachen, associate professor of anatomy at Des Moines University. “It’s really rare, in fact, to have these kinds of mummies in North America. They are much more common in Siberia. “
According to National Geographic, Zhùr appears to have died in a den collapse, and the quick burial facilitated the exceptional preservation of her body. Other mammals from this era, such as arctic ground squirrels and blacklegged ferrets, have also been found to be preserved in a similar fashion. Meachen states that this process essentially “freeze dried” the puppy’s body.
An analysis of the puppy’s genome revealed that she was a descendant of “ancient wolves from Russia, Siberia and Alaska, who are also the ancestors of modern wolves,” the statement said, according to USA Today. Studies also found that prior to his untimely death, the puppy had recently made the switch from weeding to consuming more solid foods like fish, according to National Geographic.
Animal behavior during the Pleistocene period is still largely a mystery to paleontologists, but discoveries like Zhùr offer important clues and provide researchers with renewed energy.
“I mean, seeing it, I was so amazed at the beauty of its preservation,” Meachen said (via USA Today)
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