Scientists at the Paleogene Science Center in Stockholm, Sweden, this week released a study About a cave lion cub that was found after being frozen for 28,000 years in Siberia.
The animal’s corpse, found between 2017 and 2018, is called Sparta. Scientists believe it could be the same age as another lion found around the same time, Boris, dead 43,000 years ago.
According to CNN, the age difference of 15,000 years will be an opportunity to study the evolution of species that became extinct 14,000 years ago.
In the photographs published by the lead author of the study, the preservation of Sparta is impressive. With hair covered in mud, the strands still look reserved. Teeth, skin and other organs are mummified but intact. The claws still looked menacing.
“It’s probably the best preserved Pleistocene animal ever found and it’s fairly intact, except for a slightly messy fur. It even preserved mustaches,” Love Dallen told CNN.
Scientists say that Boris and Sparta died at the age of two, but there is no evidence that they were killed by another animal.
“Maybe they died in a landslide or fell into a crack in the permafrost [tipo de solo encontrado na região próxima ao Ártico]. Dalin explained that permafrost forms large cracks due to thawing and seasonal freezing.
