A perfectly preserved lion cub found frozen in Siberia has been confirmed to be not too young, at 28,000 years old, a new study revealed.
Experts say the lion, nicknamed Sparta, is the best-preserved Ice Age animal ever discovered, with its mummified and almost intact teeth, skin, soft tissue, and organs.
Only four ancient cave lion cubs have ever been found, and scientists say Sparta and another cub they find by its side are the two best-preserved ones.
“Sparta is probably the best-preserved Ice Age animal ever found, and is more or less undamaged apart from the fur being a bit ruffled,” Love Dalen, a professor in Evolutionary Genetics and author of a new study on the cubs, told CNN.
The specimen, found in 2018 in the Semyuelyakh River in the Russian region of Yakutia, is so well preserved that you can see its whiskers, teeth and it could even still have traces of its mother’s milk.
Frozen Cave Lion Found In Siberia
Today, what little is known about cave lions, a species that became extinct thousands of years ago, comes primarily from fossils, bodies mummified by ice, footprints, and ancient rock art.
This type of finding has become more common in recent years. Due to climate change that is warming and weakening the Siberian permafrost, melting ice is exposing mammoths, wolves, bears, reindeer, and other animals.
Many of these remains could be more than 40,000 years old.
Using radiocarbon dating scientists determined that the male cub Boris is around 43,448 years old, while the female cub Sparta is 27,962 years old, according to the study published in Quaternary.
The study also revealed that in ancient times this feline species had a much darker coat and that the lighter shade is an adaptation of lighter shades as the animal migration went to warmer climates.