Ancient bison allows scientists to travel back in time - 9,000 years

The autopsy, conducted on 27 February 2014, is understood to be the first in the world on a 9,000 bison, and it could provide vital scientific information.

The creature was found in exceptional condition in July 2011 by Yukagir community members in the Sakha Republic, also known as Yakutia, where mammoth remains were also found. This bison, dating from 9,000 years ago, was located on the shore of a lake in the north of Ust-Yana district.

The body became visible after a part of the shore collapsed into the water. The Yukagirs delivered the precious find to regional Academy of Science experts.

Albert Protopopov, chief of the Mammoth Fauna Research Department of the Yakutian Academy of Sciences, said: ’The discovery has an enormous value for scientists since it is the best preserved bison ever found. We have ascertained that the bison lived 9,000 years ago, at the very beginning of the Holocene epoch and died aged approximately four. By that time, many mammoths had died here, but the bison still lived.

’The careful and thorough examination we have began will give us answers to many questions, first of all as to why did the bison die out’.

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Read the full article at: siberiatimes.com