Researchers found the frozen mummy of a Bison priscus, or Steppe bison, that died 9,300 years ago in Eastern Siberia.
The fascinating find is the most complete frozen mummy of a Steppe bison ever discovered, the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology reported. It was uncovered in the Yana-Indigirka Lowland and a necropsy was performed to determine how the animal lived and died at the end of the Ice Age.
The mummy has a complete brain, heart, blood vessels and digestive system, but some of these organs have shrunk over time. The necropsy was not able to reveal a cause of death, but the lack of fat around the ancient animal's abdomen suggests it may have died of starvation.
"The Yukagir bison mummy became the third find out of four now known complete mummies of this species discovered in the world, and one out of two adult specimens that are being kept preserved with internal organs and stored in frozen conditions, making this find one of high importance," said Olga Potapova, of the Mammoth Site of Hot Springs in South Dakota.
Frozen bison and mammoth mummies have been providing insight into these extinct species because we can compare their anatomy with that of species that are alive today, such as cattle and modern bison; we can also compare them with species that went extinct at a different time, such as bison that disappeared during the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary.
"The next steps to be done include further examination of the bison's gross anatomy, and other detailed studies on its histology, parasites, and bones and teeth. We expect that the results of these studies will reveal not only the cause of death of this particular specimen, but also might shed light on the species behavior and causes of its extinction," Potapova said.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
