Reindeer breeders in Siberia, Russia, have found the carcass of an extinct young cave bear, which has remained almost perfectly intact in ice. That reports the State University of Yakutsk Saturday. Cave bears became extinct more than ten thousand years ago.
The cave bear was found on the island of Bolshoy Lyakhovsky. The animal died with its teeth bared. This bear probably lived between 22,000 to 39,500 years ago.
Scientists from Yakutsk University are now researching the carcass. The university also conducts a lot of research on mammoths and extinct rhinoceroses, for example.
Scientists say it is the first time that a complete carcass of this bear has been discovered. Previously only bones and skulls have been found, but this specimen still has all its organs, its skin and its muzzle.
Cave bears roamed Europe during the Pleistocene (2.58 million to 11.7 thousand years ago). Fossils of the bear up to 3.5 meters high and 450 kilos heavy have been found in England, the Netherlands, Germany and the Caucasus, among others.
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