The lesser white-fronted goose is a goose closely related to the larger greater white-fronted goose. It breeds in the northernmost Palearctic, but it is a scarce breeder in Europe, with a reintroduction attempt in Fennoscandia.
Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae, Anseranatidae, and Anatidae, the largest family, which includes over 170 species of waterfowl, among them the ducks, geese, and swans. Most modern species in the order are highly adapted for an aquatic existence at the water surface. With the exception of screamers, males have penises, a trait that has been lost in the Neoaves. Due to their aquatic nature, most species are web-footed.
Struthionidae is a family of flightless birds, containing the extant ostriches and their extinct relatives. The two extant species of ostrich are the common ostrich and Somali ostrich, both in the genus Struthio, which also contains several species known from Holocene fossils such as the Asian ostrich. The common ostrich is the more widespread of the two living species, and is the largest living bird species. The extinct genus Pachystruthio from the Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene of Eurasia is one of the largest birds ever.
The black geese of the genus Branta are waterfowl belonging to the true geese and swans subfamily Anserinae. They occur in the northern coastal regions of the Palearctic and all over North America, migrating to more southerly coasts in winter, and as resident birds in the Hawaiian Islands. Alone in the Southern Hemisphere, a self-sustaining feral population derived from introduced Canada geese is also found in New Zealand.
Anas is a genus of dabbling ducks. It includes the pintails, most teals, and the mallard and its close relatives. It formerly included additional species but following the publication of a molecular phylogenetic study in 2009 the genus was split into four separate genera. The genus now contains 31 living species. The name Anas is the Latin for "duck".
Mergellus is a genus of duck. The smew (Mergellus albellus) is the only living species, but an extinct species known as Mergellus mochanovi has also been described from Late Pleistocene deposits in the Yakutia region of Russia.
The woolly rhinoceros, simply known as woolly rhino, is an extinct species of rhinoceros that inhabited northern Eurasia during the Pleistocene epoch. The woolly rhinoceros was a member of the Pleistocene megafauna. The woolly rhinoceros was covered with long, thick hair that allowed it to survive in the extremely cold, harsh mammoth steppe. It had a massive hump reaching from its shoulder and fed mainly on herbaceous plants that grew in the steppe. Mummified carcasses preserved in permafrost and many bone remains of woolly rhinoceroses have been found. Images of woolly rhinoceroses are found among cave paintings in Europe and Asia. The species range contracted towards Siberia beginning around 17,000 years ago, with the youngest known records being around 14,000 years old in northeast Siberia, coinciding with the Bølling–Allerød warming, which likely disrupted its habitat.
The steppe bison or steppe wisent is an extinct species of bison. It was widely distributed across the mammoth steppe, ranging from Western Europe to eastern Beringia in North America during the Late Pleistocene. It is ancestral to all North American bison, including ultimately modern American bison. Three chronological subspecies, Bison priscus priscus, Bison priscus mediator, and Bison priscus gigas, have been suggested.
Panthera spelaea, also known as the cave lion or steppe lion, is an extinct Panthera species that most likely evolved in Europe after the third Cromerian interglacial stage, less than 600,000 years ago. Genetic analysis of ancient DNA has revealed that while closely related, it was a distinct species genetically isolated from the modern lion occurring in Africa and Asia, with the genetic divergence between the two species variously estimated between 1.9 million and 600,000 years ago. It is closely related and probably ancestral to the American lion. The species ranged from Western Europe to eastern Beringia in North America, and was a prominent member of the mammoth steppe fauna. It became extinct about 13,000 years ago.
Anser is a waterfowl genus that includes the grey geese and the white geese. It belongs to the true goose and swan subfamily of Anserinae under the family of Anatidae. The genus has a Holarctic distribution, with at least one species breeding in any open, wet habitats in the subarctic and cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in summer. Some also breed farther south, reaching into warm temperate regions. They mostly migrate south in winter, typically to regions in the temperate zone between the January 0 °C (32 °F) and 5 °C (41 °F) isotherms.
Panthera fossilis, is an extinct species of cat belonging to the genus Panthera, known from remains found in Eurasia spanning the Middle Pleistocene and possibly into the Early Pleistocene. P. fossilis has sometimes been referred to by the common names steppe lion or cave lion, though these names are conventionally restricted to the later related species P. spelaea, to which P. fossilis is probably ancestral.
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1984.
Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis, also known as Merck's rhinoceros or the forest rhinoceros, is an extinct species of rhinoceros belonging to the genus Stephanorhinus from the Middle to Late Pleistocene of Eurasia. Its range spanned from western Europe to eastern Asia. Among the last members of the genus, it co-existed alongside Stephanorhinus hemitoechus in the western part of its range.
Yevgeny Nikolayevich Kurochkin was a Russian paleornithologist at the Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He served as President of the Menzbier Ornithological Society.
Podiceps solidus is an extinct small species of Upper Miocene to Lower Pliocene grebe from Western Mongolia.
Pterocles bosporanus is an extinct species of sandgrouse, described in 2023 from early Pleistocene-aged fossil material found in central Crimea. Potential additional remains are known from Italy. The only confirmed specimen is part of a limb bone, and the species is larger than other members of the genus Pterocles.
Heteroanser is an extinct genus of geese, which lived during the Late Miocene in what is today Western Mongolia. Its remains were discovered in the upper subformation of the Hyargas Nuur Formation, on the northern shore of the Khyargas Nuur, in Uvs Province. This genus is known from a single and incomplete tarsometatarsus, which differs significantly from all other Neogene genera of anatinae.
Dyuktai Cave is a site found in Russia’s Yakutia Region along the Dyuktai River in the Aldan River drainage. Discovered by Yuri Mochanov in 1967, who excavated in the same year, it is located at 59.288 latitude and 132.607 longitude, a total of 317 square meters has been excavated. It's renowned for its rich archaeological deposits dating back to the Upper Paleolithic period, particularly the Last Glacial Maximum, around 30,000 to 10,000 years ago. The cave has yielded significant findings, including stone tools, bone artifacts, and evidence of early human occupation. The archaeological site is part of the Dyuktai Complex; the cave is among the youngest of the Dyuktai culture sites and was believed to be part of the Late Terminal Siberian Upper Paleolithic Age. Overall, the site was found to be scattered with stone tools assemblies and was thought to be a temporary living site and was part of the evidence that suggests the linkage between Northeast Asia and North America through the similarity of the tool making technique.
