Siberian Permafrost Preserves 3500-Year-Old Etherican Brown Bear Until Found By Herders

A team of scientists from Russia is currently examining a 3,500-year-old Etherican brown bear specimen that was almost perfectly preserved in Siberian permafrost. After being found by reindeer herders in the Arctic's Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island in 2020, the female bear specimen was taken for necropsy.

Etherican Brown Bear

The species found were named the Etherican brown bear, owing its name to its area of discovery, which was east of the Bolshoy Etherican River.

The region's extreme temperatures contributed to the preservation of the soft tissue of the specimen bear and the remains of its last meals about 3,460 years ago.

The tests the team conducted revealed that the bear had both plants and birds in its diet. The specimen was about 5 feet tall and 172 pounds in weight.

Scientists examined the brain of the bear, as well as its internal organs, by cutting through its hide. The team exposed the preserved tissue and fat underneath its hide. The team also made sure the dust from the skull and bones was collected using a vacuum.

The bear was likely two to three years old, and according to Maxim Cheprasov, the laboratory director at the North-Eastern Federal University's Lazarev Mammoth Museum Laboratory, the Etherican brown bear died after suffering a spinal cord injury, FOX News reports.

In an article published by Reuters, Cheprasov said that scientists now have access to a soft tissue carcass for the first time, allowing scientists to study the internal organs of the specimen brown bear, as well as examine its brain.

Necropsy of a 3500-Year-Old Specimen

After successfully cutting through the bear's thick hide, the team of scientists in Siberia were able to examine the brain matter and internal organs of the ancient brown bear, as well as carry out a number of microbiological, cellular, virological, and genetic studies.

As the team dissected the extinct animal, they could see the bear's pink tissues and its yellowish fat.

Before removing its brain, they sawed its skull and sucked up the bone dust with a vacuum cleaner.

According to Cheprasov, genetic analysis has demonstrated that the bear's mitochondrial DNA is identical to that of contemporary bears found in Yakutia and Chukotka in northern Russia.

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Lyakhovsky Islands

According to IFLScience, there is still some mystery surrounding how the bear ended up on an island that is now almost 31 miles away from the mainland.

Three theories contend that either the bear could have crossed the ice to the island in the winter, the island was still connected to the mainland about 3,500 years ago, or the bear simply fancied a long swim to reach the island.

The Lyakhovsky islands draw researchers and ivory hunters in search of woolly mammoths because they are home to some of the most precious palaeontological finds in the world.

Around the world, many other species have been found trapped in permafrost, including lion cubs, other bear species, and even rhinos. Ivory hunters frequently search for mammoth tusks buried in the frozen depths in some areas because they are so abundant in the ancient species.