In 2021, residents of Yakutia, eastern Russia, discovered wolves amid thick permafrost that normally stays frozen all year round but is starting to thaw in many places as average global temperatures rise.
Now, researchers from North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk, Russia, are studying the mummified remains to learn more about the animal.
The frozen environment allowed the Pleistocene predator to be perfectly mummified and preserved, with most of its teeth and fur still intact, as well as some of its organs.
The wolf has its teeth and fur completely intact. Northeastern Federal University
“It’s actually shocking,” Robert Losey, an anthropologist at the University of Alberta who was not involved in the study, told Business Insider.
“This is the only complete adult Pleistocene wolf ever discovered, which is really remarkable and completely unique in itself,” he added.
There’s a lot to learn from such well-preserved ancient animals, including their genetics, lifestyle, diet, and even what ancient bacteria and viruses they may have had.
“Living bacteria can survive for thousands of years and are like witnesses to ancient times,” Artemy Goncharov, a researcher at the Institute of Experimental Medicine, said in a translated statement.
The wolf’s stomach may be full of its last meal and much more.
Scientists are searching the wolves’ stomachs for traces of their last meals and ancient microbes. Northeastern Federal University
The 44,000-year-old wolf likely belonged to an extinct species and was larger than modern wolves, Losey said. Studying the animal’s genome will help determine where it fits on the canid family tree.
Based on an examination of one of the teeth, scientists have determined that the wolf was an adult male that likely hunted in the flat, cold environment home to mammoths, woolly rhinoceros, extinct horses, bison, and reindeer.
Remains of these animals may still be found in the wolf’s stomach, and researchers are taking stomach and digestive tract samples to learn more and are awaiting results.
The researchers The study may also shed light on what function the ancient microbes played in the wolves’ guts and whether they had parasites, Losey said. If some of the microbes are unknown to science, that could help with future drug development, the researchers said in a statement.
The discovery is just part of a larger collaboration studying other ancient animals, including fossil hares, horses, and bears. The researchers have previously studied the head of a Pleistocene wolf, and have another wolf fossil waiting to be dissected.
Ancient animals and infectious agents are unraveling
Scientists have found traces of other viruses in the permafrost. Jitendra Jadhav/Getty Images
As global warming thaws the permafrost, these ancient creatures are beginning to resurface. In the Yukon Territory, for example, paleontologists remain fascinated by a perfectly preserved baby mammoth discovered in 2022.
But not everything in the permafrost is harmless.
In 2016, melting snow on Siberia’s Yamal Peninsula released anthrax bacteria from once-frozen reindeer carcasses, causing an outbreak that infected 36 people and killed one child.
Researchers worry that other pathogens may also be lurking in the tundra as melting snow caused by global warming slowly approaches it.
Last year, researcher Jean-Michel Claverie announced that he had revived a 48,000-year-old virus he found in Siberian permafrost that can still infect single-celled amoebas.
“We’re looking at these amoeba-infecting viruses as a proxy for all the other viruses that may be present in the permafrost,” Clavery told CNN at the time. “We’ve seen traces of many, many other viruses, so we know they’re there. We just don’t know for sure if they’re still alive.”
If ancient viruses or bacteria are found in the guts of Yakut wolves, it could help researchers better understand the microbes lurking among permafrost creatures.
