Terrifying Discovery: Scientists Reveal 20,000-Year-Old Woolly Rhino Frozen & Preserved In Russia’s Ice Age Graveyard!

Scientists discover 20,000-year-old woolly rhino from the Ice Age in Russia

During a search in the Russian permafrost, an animal dating back at least 20,000 years was discovered, which is more than 80% preserved and completely wild. The woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) was once a common species throughout Europe and northern Asia.

On average, they measured between 3 and 3.8 metres from head to tail and weighed between 1,800 and 2,700 kilograms as adults. Their closest living genetic relative is the Sumatran rhinoceros, but looking at a photograph of them, it almost looks as if a unicorn had fathered a baby with an American buffalo.

These woolly rhinos had two horns, one large and one smaller. The largest horn measured up to 1.4 metres and the horn itself weighed more than 15 kilograms.

As you can see, I’m learning all this on the fly because I’d only heard of this species once before today. It’s not like it’s one of those animals we were taught about in elementary school.

According to the Siberian Times, archaeologists found a young woolly rhino (about 3-5 years old) “in permafrost deposits next to the Tirekhtyakh River in the Abyisky District of the Sakha Republic.” I did a quick Google Maps search for that location and it’s in eastern Russia, almost north of North Korea.

It’s a little creepy. After all, it’s a 20,000-year-old animal, not a newborn rabbit. But it’s crazy to see how intact it is:

It is the best-preserved juvenile woolly rhino yet found in Yakutia, with many of its internal organs (including teeth, part of its intestines, a piece of fat and tissue) preserved intact for thousands of years in the permafrost.

The juvenile rhino, with its thick hazel-coloured fur and horn, found next to the carcass, was discovered in mid-August in permafrost deposits next to the Tirekhtyakh River in the Abyisky District of the Sakha Republic.

The sensational discovery is still in Arctic Yakutia, waiting for ice paths to form so it can be delivered to scientists in the republic’s capital, Yakutsk.

It is the best-preserved juvenile woolly rhino yet found in Yakutia, and many of its internal organs (including teeth, part of its intestines, a piece of fat and tissue) have remained intact for thousands of years in the permafrost.

“The young rhino was three to four years old and was living separately from its mother when it died, probably by drowning,” said Dr Valery Plotnikov of the Academy of Sciences, who was at the scene of the discovery and gave the first description of the find.

‘The sex of the animal is still unknown. We are waiting for radiocarbon analyses to determine when it lived, the most likely dating range being between 20,000 and 50,000 years ago.

The rhino has short and very dense fur, it is very likely that it died in the summer,’ said Dr. Plotnikov. (via Siberian Times)

It is absolutely incredible that its last meal was also intact in its stomach. They are awaiting analysis of the rhino’s stomach contents and internal organs to try to determine what exactly it was eating.

Despite their impressive horns, which I assumed were for catching monkeys from trees, the woolly rhinoceros mainly ate grass and reeds. Because of their enormous size, they had to eat a LOT of grass to sustain themselves, which wasn’t exactly easy during an ice age.

To read more about this fascinating discovery, you can visit the Siberian Times, which has plenty of information about this discovery along with some other rare discoveries from this year, including two extinct cave lion cubs.