Baby Cave Lions In a Siberian region, about as large as India, known as Yakutia or the Sakha Republi

Baby Cave LionsIn a Siberian region, about as large as India, known as Yakutia or the Sakha Republic, a team of contractors uncovered the remains of two very young cave lions. The team was in the area searching for mammoth tusks when one worker, Yakov Androsov, happened to see them through a crack in the ice. As the team realized what they had found, Androsov immediately placed the cubs into a glacier to prevent any thawing. Flooding of the Uyandina River exposed the icy den where the cubs have been buried for so long. “Their woolen cover, legs, tails, ears, eyes and even moustaches were preserved,” exclaimed Androsov. Named after the river, Uyan and Dina are the most complete cave lion remains to date and will likely play a big role in gaining new information about this species that became extinct more than 12,000 years ago.The cave lion once roamed all around from the British Isles to the Yukon in Canada. Considered one of the largest feline predators of that time, approximately the size of the Siberian tiger we see today.Researchers were able to analyze DNA from the cubs’ mitochondria. According to Albert Protopopov, head of the Department of Mammoth Fauna Study at the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Sakha, the cubs were probably between two and three weeks old. They were the size of well-fed house cats, their baby teeth had not yet come through and it was unclear if they had even opened their eyes or not. “The most likely cause of their death is a collapse of soil, which walled up the lion’s den,” stated Androsov.Scientists will continue to gather further information about the cave lion as research goes on, including genetics, growth and anatomy.–MiImage Credit – http://bit.ly/1Szz3fWSource – http://bbc.in/2lW6XRU -- source link

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