Wolf puppy fossil in Yukon permafrost helps researchers learn more about wolf migration

A 57,000 fossilized wolf baby will help researchers learn about how wolves migrated in Europe, North America, and Asia. This will help them also learn how the mammals during the interglacial time lived. A team of researchers used this fossilized wolf baby for their research and recently published an article in the journal Current Biology.

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When and where was the fossil found?

As per the sources of National Geographic, Neil Loveless, a gold miner from Yukon territory of Canada, accidentally discovered the fossilized puppy. While he was blasting a wall inside Yukon permafrost, he found the fossil coming out of the ice. He preserved the fossilized puppy till researchers took it from him for their study.

The local people of the region even gave this 57,000 old fossilized puppy a name "zhur."  It means wolf in the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in language.

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The study and findings of the wolf of a bygone era

This wolf offered the team of researchers more information on the ecosystem of the ice age. At that time, Canada was different, and American mastodons and other larger Pleistocene age animals thrived there.

Even though other Pleistocene age fossils were found from the Siberian tundra region, this puppy is special. Zhur, a female gray wolf puppy, is unique because its body was fully preserved in the ice. According to Des Moines' interview on National Geographic, who is the lead author of the study, such an intact fossil in Yukon permafrost is not shared.

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Interestingly enough, the whole body was fossilized, including the fur coating, the small and intricate papillae on Zhur's tongue. Meacjen also added that probably the puppy died at the age of seven weeks. Scientists can find a lot of information, including the diet of such wolves during that time.

Scientists assume that probably this young puppy died due to a den collapse. Zhur probably lived on fish like chinook salmon from the rivers and streams. A lot of present-day wolves from the Alaskan region often eat fish.

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The scientists found that Zhur used to live in interglacial times. During this time, the Arctic glaciers were temporarily melted, and woodlands were more prominent. During this time, gray wolves, mastodons, camels, giant beavers used to live near Canada.

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Zhur's wolf species was genetically connected to wolves in Alaska and Eurasia. Still, they are different from the wolves seen in the modern-day Yukon permafrost area as they have a different genetic structure. This information indicates that probably the Pleistocene gray wolves were erased from Canada, and then new species of wolves started to thrive there.