Two Mummified Ancient Cave Lion Cubs Found

November 4, 2016 12:04 AM

For more than 30,000 years, northern Russia's cold permafrost has preserved the small bodies of two furry and wide-pawed cave lion cubs... The two mummified cubs, nicknamed Uyan and Dina after the Uyandina River where they were found, were just about 1 week old when they died, likely crushed by "extensive collapse of the sediments in the den," the study's researchers wrote in a summary of their research. The report was presented as a poster here on Wednesday (Oct. 26) at the 2016 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting. SIBERIA'S FROZEN CAVE LION CUBS: DNA, CAUSE OF DEATH & OTHER SECRETS
posted by grobertson (10 comments total)

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posted by ZenMasterThis at 2:35 AM on November 4, 2016

😿
posted by leotrotsky at 5:27 AM on November 4, 2016 [8 favorites]

I'm surprised they're that well preserved given that they were quite literally buried.

I'm not surprised that we're finding interesting things as "perma" frost areas start melting.
posted by rmd1023 at 6:05 AM on November 4, 2016 [2 favorites]

I love scientists and science the fact that they can tell what that is and when it's from. It looks like a blob of brown ice to me and I surely would have stepped over it had I been exploring that den.
posted by knownassociate at 6:06 AM on November 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm not surprised that we're finding interesting things as "perma" frost areas start melting.

I'm personally awaiting the undead horrors. Or, you know, the ecological horrors.

Also, poor kitties.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:18 AM on November 4, 2016 [2 favorites]

Go Cubs!


(is that right? I'm not really au fait with American sporting references)
posted by Devonian at 6:56 AM on November 4, 2016 [6 favorites]

"They were squished to death," said study co-researcher Olga Potapova...

Sometimes I wish science articles were written in more colloquial language, and avoid technical jargon like this.
posted by zakur at 7:14 AM on November 4, 2016 [11 favorites]

Go Cubs!

(is that right? I'm not really au fait with American sporting references)

You're operating at about the right time-frame.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:22 AM on November 4, 2016 [4 favorites]

This seems like a perfect Russian short story, "Two cats of great potential, born into obscurity, crushed by nature, frozen for centuries."
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:00 AM on November 4, 2016 [7 favorites]

Stop trying to make dinosaurs happen, Science. I want a house cave lion please.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 8:30 AM on November 6, 2016