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10,000+ year old cave lion cubs found frozen in Siberian cave

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Y

Yrael

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http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/10/151028-cave-lion-frozen-permafrost-science/

Russian researchers have announced the discovery of cave lion cubs found in the Ice Age permafrost of Yakutia, Siberia. The frozen cats are the first of their kind ever found in such a well-preserved state.

At least one of the cats, seen in a photo released with the announcement, is so delicately preserved that even its fur is intact. The [cub] has been frozen this way for at least 10,000 years, although the initial report notes that they could be even older.

“As far as I know, there has never been a prehistoric cat found with this level of preservation,” Des Moines University fossil felid expert Julie Meachen says, “so this is truly an extraordinary find.”

First described in 1810, cave lion remains have been found from Eurasia to North America. Up until now, however, the fossil record of this big cat was restricted to bones and tracks.

For the moment, the scientists studying the cubs are remaining tight-lipped about the discovery. Sakha Republic Academy of Science paleontologist Albert Protopopov declined to answer questions about the cats, awaiting a scheduled November 17 press conference to release the initial findings. The event will also highlight other spectacular finds made in the region, such as “Yuka” the woolly mammoth.
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One of the cubs:

information_items_3650.jpg


The European cave lion was one of the largest lion subspecies (or an extremely close relative of the modern lion), although not believed to have been as large as the American cave lion. It has been depicted in a variety of ancient art, such as this cave painting in Chauvet Cave in France:

330px-Lions_painting%2C_Chauvet_Cave_%28museum_replica%29.jpg
 
P

PlayALLtheGames

Banned
I was born in Yakutsk, Siberia. If I had stayed there, this is the kind of shit I'd want to be doing: hunting for preserved prehistoric animal remains.
 
F

Freeza Under The Shower

Member
Wow, that cave art is really accurate. I though it was more 'abstract' in general.

It's somewhat ironic that it was found in an actual cave though. Hopefully we'll find more of the lost megafauna while we still have the chance to find preserved ones. That includes hominids, obviously.

PlayALLtheGames said:
I was born in Yakutsk, Siberia. If I had stayed there, this is the kind of shit I'd want to be doing: hunting for preserved prehistoric animal remains.
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with the permafrost melting, now is the time to do it! Wait a decade or two and the chance is gone.
 
W

Walpurgis

Banned
Very cool. Have other northern countries been making any efforts to find preserved animals like this? I would think that Canada would have a lot but I haven't heard anything here.
 
Wulfric

Wulfric

Member
Aww, poor thing. I wonder what occurred to leave it's body in such a state. Is permafrost really cold enough to slow down decomposition that drastically? It'll be interesting to see what details come out of this.
 
C

CloudyTuba

Member
That's so lonely. For 10,000 years that cub in the picture laid there motionless in the dark, looking the same today as it did when George Washington was still a kid shitting his diapers, when egyptians were first building the pyramids, before writing was even invented. It's from around the time that humans stopped being hunter gatherers and figured out that agriculture was maybe a good thing. Every moment of your life and beyond it was in there.

Crazy. Makes me wonder what else has been hiding out there in the world all this time.
 
B

BjornTheBear

Banned
SillyNonsense said:
That's so lonely. For 10,000 years that cub in the picture laid there motionless in the dark, looking the same today as it did when George Washington was still a kid shitting his diapers, when egyptians were first building the pyramids, before writing was even invented. It's from around the time that humans stopped being hunter gatherers and figured out that agriculture was maybe a good thing. Every moment of your life and beyond it was in there.

Crazy. Makes me wonder what else has been hiding out there in the world all this time.
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When you put it that way... Holy shit.
 
bengraven

bengraven

Member
So awesome.

Thanks to global warming we might get to see even more, more unique prehistoric creatures emerge from the ice! I seriously can't wait!
 
S

SpaceWolf

Banned
SillyNonsense said:
That's so lonely. For 10,000 years that cub in the picture laid there motionless in the dark, looking the same today as it did when George Washington was still a kid shitting his diapers, when egyptians were first building the pyramids, before writing was even invented. It's from around the time that humans stopped being hunter gatherers and figured out that agriculture was maybe a good thing. Every moment of your life and beyond it was in there.

Crazy. Makes me wonder what else has been hiding out there in the world all this time.
Click to expand...

Cub was still frozen in ice when Fresh Prince of Bel Air was still airing. Insane.
 
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