List of Ice Age species preserved as permafrost mummies

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Ca. 37,000-year-old cub of Homotherium latidens found near the Badyarikha River, Siberia. Homotherium latidens cub mummy fig1.webp
Ca. 37,000-year-old cub of Homotherium latidens found near the Badyarikha River, Siberia.

This is a list of Ice Age species preserved as permafrost mummies during the Late Pleistocene. It includes all known species that have had their tissues partially preserved within the permafrost layer of the Arctic and Subarctic. Most went extinct during the Late Pleistocene extinctions while some are still extant today. They have been listed to the most specific known taxonomic rank.

Contents

Overview

Permafrost mummies provide crucial insights into the physiology and life histories of Pleistocene organisms, due to how well the preservation process keeps the specimens from decomposing. The constant presence of permafrost is able to preserve the soft tissues of organisms through a process similar to freeze-drying. [1] With such complete preservation of tissues, it is possible to determine numerous things from the such as: DNA, eDNA, [2] evolutionary history, [3] gut contents, [4] and trophic dynamics. [5] Studies have even shown that the process is so complete there is evidence of nucleic activity. [6]

Some of these specimens are on display at the Kingdom of the Permafrost museum near Yakutsk. [7]

(E) - denote an extinct species or subspecies

Artiodactyla (Even-toed ungulates)

"Blue Babe", 36,000-year-old mummy of a male steppe bison from Fairbanks, Alaska. Steppe bison mummy.jpg
"Blue Babe", 36,000-year-old mummy of a male steppe bison from Fairbanks, Alaska.

Bovidae (Bovines)

Cervidae (Deer)

Carnivora

"Sparta", a 28,000 year old mummified female cave lion cub from the banks of the Semyuelyakh River in Siberia. Sparta body lateral view.png
"Sparta", a 28,000 year old mummified female cave lion cub from the banks of the Semyuelyakh River in Siberia.

Canidae (Dogs)

Felidae (Cats)

Mustelidae (Weasels)

Lagomorpha

Ochotonidae (Pika)

Leporidae (Rabbits and hares)

Perissodactyla (Odd-toed ungulates)

Mummified remains of a woolly rhinoceros found in the Vilyuy River, Siberia in 1771. Frozen Coelodonta.jpg
Mummified remains of a woolly rhinoceros found in the Vilyuy River, Siberia in 1771.

Equidae (Horses)

Rhinocerotidae (Rhinoceroses)

Proboscidea

Elephantidae (Elephants)

"Lyuba", a 42,000-year-old mammoth calf found in the Yamal Peninsula of Siberia. Lyuba.jpg
"Lyuba", a 42,000-year-old mammoth calf found in the Yamal Peninsula of Siberia.

Rodentia (Rodents)

Cricetidae (Voles)

Sciuridae (Squirrels)

Passeriformes (Perching Birds)

Alaudidae (Larks)

References

  1. 1 2 Harington, C. R. (2007-01-01), "Vertebrate Records | Late Pleistocene Mummified Mammals", in Elias, Scott A. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science, Oxford: Elsevier, pp. 3197–3202, doi:10.1016/b0-44-452747-8/00267-2, ISBN   978-0-444-52747-9 , retrieved 2024-02-29
  2. ↑ Kjær, Kurt H.; Winther Pedersen, Mikkel; De Sanctis, Bianca; De Cahsan, Binia; Korneliussen, Thorfinn S.; Michelsen, Christian S.; Sand, Karina K.; Jelavić, Stanislav; Ruter, Anthony H.; Schmidt, Astrid M. A.; Kjeldsen, Kristian K.; Tesakov, Alexey S.; Snowball, Ian; Gosse, John C.; Alsos, Inger G. (2022). "A 2-million-year-old ecosystem in Greenland uncovered by environmental DNA". Nature. 612 (7939): 283–291. Bibcode:2022Natur.612..283K. doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05453-y. ISSN   1476-4687. PMC   9729109 . PMID   36477129.
  3. ↑ Orlando, Ludovic; Ginolhac, Aurélien; Zhang, Guojie; Froese, Duane; Albrechtsen, Anders; Stiller, Mathias; Schubert, Mikkel; Cappellini, Enrico; Petersen, Bent; Moltke, Ida; Johnson, Philip L. F.; Fumagalli, Matteo; Vilstrup, Julia T.; Raghavan, Maanasa; Korneliussen, Thorfinn (2013). "Recalibrating Equus evolution using the genome sequence of an early Middle Pleistocene horse". Nature. 499 (7456): 74–78. Bibcode:2013Natur.499...74O. doi:10.1038/nature12323. ISSN   1476-4687. PMID   23803765.
  4. 1 2 Rudaya, Natalia; Protopopov, Albert; Trofimova, Svetlana; Plotnikov, Valery; Zhilich, Snezhana (2015). "Landscapes of the 'Yuka' mammoth habitat: A palaeobotanical approach". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 214: 1–8. Bibcode:2015RPaPa.214....1R. doi:10.1016/j.revpalbo.2014.12.003. ISSN   0034-6667.
  5. 1 2 Diedrich, Cajus G. (2022). "Thick skin cutters of Siberian frozen mummies—The coevolutionary adaptation of Eurasian Ice Age spotted hyenas". Acta Zoologica. 103 (2): 220–241. doi:10.1111/azo.12366. ISSN   0001-7272.
  6. ↑ Yamagata, Kazuo; Nagai, Kouhei; Miyamoto, Hiroshi; Anzai, Masayuki; Kato, Hiromi; Miyamoto, Kei; Kurosaka, Satoshi; Azuma, Rika; Kolodeznikov, Igor I.; Protopopov, Albert V.; Plotnikov, Valerii V.; Kobayashi, Hisato; Kawahara-Miki, Ryouka; Kono, Tomohiro; Uchida, Masao (2019-03-11). "Signs of biological activities of 28,000-year-old mammoth nuclei in mouse oocytes visualized by live-cell imaging". Scientific Reports. 9 (1): 4050. Bibcode:2019NatSR...9.4050Y. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-40546-1. ISSN   2045-2322. PMC   6411884 . PMID   30858410.
  7. ↑ Magazine, Smithsonian; Fessenden, Maris. "Ice Age Cave Lion Cubs and a Look Back at Permafrost Mummies". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2024-04-14.
  8. ↑ Kirillova, Irina V.; Zanina, Oksana G.; Chernova, Olga F.; Lapteva, Elena G.; Trofimova, Svetlana S.; Lebedev, Vladimir S.; Tiunov, Alexei V.; Soares, Andre E. R.; Shidlovskiy, Fedor K.; Shapiro, Beth (September 2015). "An ancient bison from the mouth of the Rauchua River (Chukotka, Russia)". Quaternary Research. 84 (2): 232–245. Bibcode:2015QuRes..84..232K. doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2015.06.003. ISSN   0033-5894.
  9. ↑ Lent, P. C. (1999). Muskoxen and their hunters: A history (Vol. 5). University of Oklahoma Press.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Guthrie, R. Dale. Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe: The Story of Blue Babe. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
  11. ↑ Meachen, Julie; Wooller, Matthew J.; Barst, Benjamin D.; Funck, Juliette; Crann, Carley; Heath, Jess; Cassatt-Johnstone, Molly; Shapiro, Beth; Hall, Elizabeth; Hewitson, Susan; Zazula, Grant (2020). "A mummified Pleistocene gray wolf pup". Current Biology. 30 (24): R1467 –R1468. Bibcode:2020CBio...30R1467M. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.11.011 . ISSN   0960-9822. PMID   33352124.
  12. ↑ Lopatin, A. V.; Sotnikova, M. V.; Klimovsky, A. I.; Lavrov, A. V.; Protopopov, A. V.; Gimranov, D. O.; Parkhomchuk, E. V. (2024-11-14). "Mummy of a juvenile sabre-toothed cat Homotherium latidens from the Upper Pleistocene of Siberia". Scientific Reports. 14 (1): 28016. Bibcode:2024NatSR..1428016L. doi:10.1038/s41598-024-79546-1. ISSN   2045-2322. PMC   11564651 . PMID   39543377.
  13. ↑ Zimmerman, M. R. (1996). Mummies of the Arctic regions. In Human Mummies: A Global Survey of their Status and the Techniques of Conservation (pp. 83-92). Vienna: Springer Vienna.
  14. ↑ "Extinct lion cubs found in Siberia are up to 55,000 years old - latest test results reveal". siberiantimes.com. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
  15. ↑ Youngman, P. M. (1994-05-31). "Beringian Ferrets: Mummies, Biogeography, and Systematics". Journal of Mammalogy. 75 (2): 454–461. doi:10.2307/1382567. ISSN   1545-1542. JSTOR   1382567.
  16. ↑ Baryshnikov, G. F. (2015). Late pleistocene Ursidae and Mustelidae remains (Mammalia, Carnivora) from Geographical Society Cave in the Russian Far East. Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Science (published November 1, 2015).
  17. 1 2 3 Potapova, O., & Potapov, E. (2024). Late Pleistocene mummified mammals. Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-99931-1.00275-0
  18. ↑ Guthrie, R. D. (1973-12-14). "Mummified Pika (Ochotona) Carcass and Dung Pellets from Pleistocene Deposits in Interior Alaska". Journal of Mammalogy. 54 (4): 970–971. doi:10.2307/1379093. ISSN   1545-1542. JSTOR   1379093.
  19. ↑ Boeskorov, G. G., Chernova, O. F., & Shchelchkova, M. V. (2023, May). First Find of a Frozen Mummy of the Fossil Don Hare Lepus tanaiticus (Leporidae, Lagomorpha) from the Pleistocene of Yakutia. In Doklady Earth Sciences (Vol. 510, No. 1, pp. 298-302). Moscow: Pleiades Publishing.
  20. ↑ "Perfectly-preserved ancient foal is shown to the world for the first time". siberiantimes.com. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
  21. ↑ Boeskorov, Gennady G.; Lazarev, Peter A.; Sher, Andrei V.; Davydov, Sergei P.; Bakulina, Nadezhda T.; Shchelchkova, Marina V.; Binladen, Jonas; Willerslev, Eske; Buigues, Bernard; Tikhonov, Alexey N. (2011-08-01). "Woolly rhino discovery in the lower Kolyma River". Quaternary Science Reviews. Beringia and Beyond: Papers Celebrating the Scientific Career of Andrei Vladimirovich Sher, 1939–2008. 30 (17): 2262–2272. Bibcode:2011QSRv...30.2262B. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2011.02.010. ISSN   0277-3791.
  22. ↑ "30,000 year-old arctic ground squirrel discovered in the Yukon". Yukon News. 2023-04-06. Retrieved 2024-04-14.
  23. ↑ Dussex, Nicolas; Stanton, David W. G.; Sigeman, Hanna; Ericson, Per G. P.; Gill, Jacquelyn; Fisher, Daniel C.; Protopopov, Albert V.; Herridge, Victoria L.; Plotnikov, Valery; Hansson, Bengt; Dalén, Love (2020-02-21). "Biomolecular analyses reveal the age, sex and species identity of a near-intact Pleistocene bird carcass". Communications Biology. 3 (1): 84. doi:10.1038/s42003-020-0806-7. ISSN   2399-3642. PMC   7035339 . PMID   32081985.
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