Free Republic

Two stunningly preserved ice age mammals were unearthed by gold miners in northwest Canada and unveiled in a ceremony on Thursday. A wolf pup and a caribou calf were found by the miners in the Yukon territory in 2016 in the area's melting permaforst. It's exceedlingly rare for fur, skin and muscle tissues to be preserved in the fossil record, but all three are present on these specimens, which have radiocarbon-dated to more than 50,000 years old, reports the Guardian. The wolf pup is reportedly preserved in its entirety, including exceptional details of the head, tail, paws, skin and hair,...

Miners in northwestern Canada have discovered ice age camel bones whose DNA is forcing scientists to redraw the family tree of the now-extinct species. Grant Zazula, a paleontologist with the Yukon's Department of Tourism and Culture, said three fossils recovered from a gold mine in the Klondike in 2008 are the first western camel bones found in the territory or Alaska in decades. Scientists had believed western camels that once lived in North America were related to llamas and alpacas common to South America, but they now have genetic proof that the animals are more closely tied to the camels...