lpetrich
Contributor
Lots of news stories on it:
In the Lyakhovsky Islands in the Arctic Ocean a little off of Siberia, the body of an adult cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) was recently found. Also recently discovered on the nearby mainland was a cave-bear cub. Though many cave-bear skeletons have been found, this is the first find of cave-bear mummies, well-preserved and often dried-up corpses. Cave bears grew to the size of the largest present-day bears. They went extinct in the Last Glacial Maximum, about 24,000 years ago.
Cave bears' closest relative is the Eurasian brown bear (Ursus arctos), and they diverged roughly a million years ago. Not long after, the eastern and western populations of EBB's also diverged.
Frozen corpses/mummies of several other species of late-Pleistocene animals have also recently been found in that area -- some dog/wolf puppies, a severed wolf's head, two cave-lion cubs, a foal (baby horse), a steppe bison, a woolly rhino, some mammoths.
- Cave bear carcass found in Siberian permafrost with organs, nose intact - Business Insider
- Bear from Ice Age found 'completely preserved' in Russian Arctic - BBC News
- Extinct Cave Bear, Roughly 30,000 Years Old, Has Emerged From Siberian Permafrost
- Beautifully preserved cave bears emerge from Siberian permafrost | Ars Technica
- Siberian Permafrost Perfectly Preserves Cave Bear | Science Times
- Cave bear mummy discovered in Siberia still has its internal organs, fur and black nose | Live Science
- Tracking the origins of the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) by mitochondrial DNA sequencing | PNAS
Cave bear
In the Lyakhovsky Islands in the Arctic Ocean a little off of Siberia, the body of an adult cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) was recently found. Also recently discovered on the nearby mainland was a cave-bear cub. Though many cave-bear skeletons have been found, this is the first find of cave-bear mummies, well-preserved and often dried-up corpses. Cave bears grew to the size of the largest present-day bears. They went extinct in the Last Glacial Maximum, about 24,000 years ago.
Cave bears' closest relative is the Eurasian brown bear (Ursus arctos), and they diverged roughly a million years ago. Not long after, the eastern and western populations of EBB's also diverged.
Frozen corpses/mummies of several other species of late-Pleistocene animals have also recently been found in that area -- some dog/wolf puppies, a severed wolf's head, two cave-lion cubs, a foal (baby horse), a steppe bison, a woolly rhino, some mammoths.
