Scientists find preserved cave bear frozen more than 20,000 years ago

Reindeer herders in the Russian Arctic's Lyakhovsky Islands found a preserved carcass of a cave bear frozen in the ice between 22,000 and 39,500 years ago. From the North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk:

[North-Eastern Federal University} scientist Lena Grigorieva said of the island discovery of the adult beast: 'Today this is the first and only find of its kind - a whole bear carcass with soft tissues. It is completely preserved, with all internal organs in place including even its nose. "Previously, only skulls and bones were found. This find is of great importance for the whole world."[...]

"The research is planned on as large a scale as in the study of the famous Malolyakhovsky mammoth," said Dr Grigorieva, leading researcher of the International Centre for Collective Use of Molecular Paleontology at the NEFU's Institute of Applied Ecology of the North.

Recent years have seen major discoveries of mammoths, woolly rhinos, Ice Age foal, several puppies and Cave Lion cubs as the permafrost melts in Siberia.

images: NEFU RIAEN