Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Cutest Ice Mummy Ever

 Her name is Zhur, and she died when the den she was raised in collapsed about 56,000 years ago...leaving us with a well-preserved wolf pup to study (and ooh over).

We know that she was closely related to the ancestors of all wolves, but not as closely related to modern wolves in the Klondike (there appears to have been migration).

She had a stomach full of fish, likely from salmon running in the Klondike river. Modern wolves don't eat that much fish, but who doesn't enjoy the bounty of the salmon run?

Whether she had siblings and what happened to them is unknown...perhaps mama wolf was able to rescue most of the litter from the collapse, leaving poor Zhur buried.

Zhur will be displayed at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Center in Whitehorse, if you're ever up there.

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