Frozen Secrets Revealed: What 14,000-Year-Old Wolf Puppies Discovered in Siberia Tell Us About the Ancient World
“It was incredible to find two sisters from this era so well preserved, but even more incredible that we can now tell so much of their story, down to the last meal they ate,” said Anne Kathrine Runge, an archaeologist at the University of York.
It was learning what types of food the animals ate that led to the discovery of them really being wolves.
Mietje Germonpré/Royal Belgian Institute of Natural SciencesThese wolves were sisters who were just a few months old and still nursing from their mother when they died.
Along with showing signs of nursing from their mother, the pair appeared to be omnivores. Researchers found solid foods like woolly rhinoceros meat and wagtail, a small bird, in their stomachs. The theory goes that, if they had been domesticated dogs, their human companions would have been fed them the same mammoth meat that they were eating.
“Whilst many will be disappointed that these animals are almost certainly wolves and not early domesticated dogs, they have helped us get closer to understanding the environment at the time, how these animals lived, and how remarkably similar wolves from more than 14,000 years ago are to modern day wolves,” Runge explained.
A diverse range of plant remains were also found in the animals’ stomachs, suggesting the environment they lived in was ecologically diverse and contained many different plants and animals to eat.
Other Prehistoric Animals Found Intact In The Siberian Permafrost
These wolf cubs are far from the only prehistoric animals to have been found in the Siberian permafrost in recent years.
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