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Gold miners in the remote Yukon have discovered more than just precious metals.
Two mummified animals, dating back to the Ice Age, were discovered in 2016 and have just been unveiled to the public.
A wolf cub and calf, both furred, skin and intact muscle tissue, were revealed at a ceremony last week. Carbon dating shows that the pair is over 50,000 years old.
Although only the front half of the caribou has been found, the wolf is complete and gives us an incredibly detailed look at a creature that is thousands of years old.
"They are spectacular, they are world class and we are really excited about them," said Grant Zazula, a local paleontologist working with the Yukon government.
"To our knowledge, it is the only wolf of the mummified ice age in the world," he said.
According to a veterinarian who studied the wolf, it was only about eight weeks before his death. Both creatures lived in cold, dry weather and have since been preserved by permafrost.
"These are ashes found in the permafrost of Alaska volcanoes that erupted during the ice age," Zazula told Canadian news website CBC.
"We think it's one of the oldest mummified soft tissues in the world," he said.
Both specimens are currently exposed in Dawson City, Yukon, in northwestern Canada, but will eventually be sent to the Canadian Conservation Institute for further research.
Scientists will be able to learn more about how animals have coped with this environment and potentially uncover clues about other species that were at the same time, such as the woolly mammoth.
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