Woolly rhino discovery in the lower Kolyma River

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Gennady G. Boeskorov
  • Peter A. Lazarev
  • Andrei V. Sher
  • Sergei P. Davydov
  • Nadezhda T. Bakulina
  • Marina V. Shchelchkova
  • Jonas Khalid Mohamed Awad Binladen
  • Willerslev, Eske
  • Bernard Buigues
  • Alexey N. Tikhonov
A nearly complete frozen mummy of a woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis Blum., 1799) was discovered in a gold mine on the lower reaches of the Kolyma River, north–eastern Siberia. This is the first find of the whole body of woolly rhino in permafrost. A large part of the mummified body was preserved, including the left part of the body, covered by skin, including skin of the head and ear, fore and hind legs. The skull with 2 horns and the lower jaw were also preserved. Most of the internal organs were lost, except the intestines, stomach, and their contents. A rib fragment from this individual was dated by AMS-radiocarbon method to 39,140 ± 390 years BP (OxA-18755). Spore and pollen analyses of the stomach contents indicate that grasses and sagebrushes formed the main part of the diet of C. antiquitatis in this region of Arctic Siberia.
Original languageEnglish
JournalQuaternary Science Reviews
Volume30
Issue number17–18
Pages (from-to)2262-2272
Number of pages11
ISSN0277-3791
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2011

ID: 49100984