Published 18:42 IST, February 22nd 2020
Frozen bird found in Siberia is 46,000-year-old: Researchers
A frozen bird found on the ground in northeastern Siberia by the fossil ivory hunters is believed to be nearly 46000 years old which is vital for researchers.
A frozen bird found on the ground in northeastern Siberia by the fossil ivory hunters is believed to be nearly 46000 years old which works as an important piece for the researchers to study more about the end of the ice age. The 'exceptionally well preserved' was discovered in 2018 and was sent to the researchers at the Center for Paleogenetics at Stockholm University and the Swedish Museum of Natural History. Researchers revealed that the remains of the female lark were around 44,000 to 49,000 years old.
Bird carcass from ice age
They noted that it is the first bird carcass obtained from ice age permafrost deposits. Their findings were published on February 21 in journal Communications Biology. Nicholas Dussex, a researcher at Stockholm University said in a statement that lark is also an ancestor of two different lark subspecies. He added that one is found in Mongolia and the other one is found in Siberia.
Scientists believe that the larks lived in during the last Ice Age and it provides further details to the ecosystem. The long term aim is to map the lark's genome and figure out comparing it to the modern subspecies for horned larks. Dussex further added that it helps them to understand how the diversity of subspecies progressed.
Fossilised footprints revealed
Meanwhile, researchers from Cornell University, with the help of a special type of radar, recently discovered footprints that were hidden since the last ice age and what lied underneath them. The fossilized footprints revealed a great deal of information in relation to how human beings and animals co-existed around 12,000 years ago. The researchers said that they initially never thought of looking under the fossilised footprints but it turned out that the fossil had recorded the effect of the animal's weight and momentum. The researchers also added that the study gave them the chance of studying the biomechanics of animals that went extinct millions of years ago.
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Updated 18:42 IST, February 22nd 2020