18,000-Year Old ‘Wolf Dog’ Discovered Frozen In Siberian Ice

The discovery of an ancient four-legged furry friend with eyelashes, velvety nose, blunt teeth,  and whiskers have left scientists startled.

The discovered canine estimated to be 18,000 years was seen perfectly preserved in Siberian Permafrost. A well-detailed DNA test has, however, failed at establishing its species.

Quite uncertain whether it’s an Ice Age puppy, a wolf or a case study of the evolutionary transition from a latter to the former, carried out tests in Sweden have drawn a blank.

The young male puppy growling with distinctive features, including an arrowhead fang was discovered in Summer 2018 in a lump of the frozen ground around the Indigirka River, Yakutsk, Northeast of the world’s coldest city.

While the cause of its death has equally not been established, experts have suggested that the young beast doesn’t appear to have been in distress when it passed away during the Upper Palaeolithic era.

Accordingly, Russian scientists have provided samples from the ancient canine to the Swedish Centre for Palaeogenetics (CPG) in a bid to establish a fact, whether it’s a wolf cub or a normal dog.

‘The centre has Europe’s largest DNA bank of all canine across different countries, but in this case, they couldn’t identify it from the first trial. It’s undoubtedly intriguing. What if it’s a dog? We can’t just wait to get results from further investigations.’ Dr. Sergey Fedorov, from the Institute of Applied Ecology of the North, said.

Confirming the discovered animal was actually 18,000years old, Dr. Fedorov added: ‘We have sequenced its genome to two times coverage, but we still can’t tell if it’s a dog or a wolf. Perhaps, it’s the common ancestor? More sequencing needed.’

However, the puppy has been given a name ‘Dogor, meaning Friend in the Local Yakut Language. Dogor also expresses the indecision of whether it’s a wolf or a dog.