PALEONTOLOGY UNEARTHING CUBS

The entirely preserved lion cub that was found in the Siberia icefield has been confirmed to be a ‘female’, which died some 28,000 years ago. These details were given in a recent study involving these ancient lionesses. This animal is considered one of the best-preserved Ice Age animals ever found in the paleontological world. The team from the Centre for paleogenetic studies, Stockholm, Sweden, has named the cub Sparta.

According to the study, the female cub was estimated to be two months old or less at the time of her demise. Her dermis was intact and was covered in flawless golden fur. Furthermore, the teeth and whiskers were also in optimal shape. They were preserved due to the permafrost environment, which is a surface on or below ground where the temperature is consistently below zero °C.

One more cub was found just 49 feet away from Sparta. It was earlier thought that these two cubs were siblings as they were found at the same location. But research shows that Sparta lived 15,000 years later than the other cub. According to carbon dating technology, the second cub named Boris is comparatively older and is in total 43,448 years old. When he died, his age was moreover the same as Sparta.

---- SHRESHTA SINHA