RESUMO
A morphological description is provided for a unique find of a frozen mummified subfossil brown bear (Ursus arctos L., 1758), found for the first time ever. The find is a well-preserved bear carcass of approximately 3500 years in age. Results of computed tomography and DNA testing are discussed.
Assuntos
Ursidae , Animais , Ursidae/classificaçãoRESUMO
A spore and pollen research was performed for the first time to study the contents of the gastrointestinal tracts (GITs) and sediments containing frozen mummies of the fossil Don hare from the Upper Pleistocene ice complex of the Verkhoyansk district of Yakutia. Radiocarbon dating (C14) revealed that the hares lived during the Karginian Interstadial of the Late Pleistocene, 32.5 thousand years ago (calibrated date). The results expanded the understanding of the ecology of extinct Lepus tanaiticus. The species was assumed to live in cold steppes dominated by xerophytic communities, as well as in grass-forb and sedge-forb meadows. Herbaceous plants mostly constituted the winter diet of Don hare in contrast to the modern mountain hare L. timidus, which feeds mainly on branches and bark of trees and shrubs in winter.