Posted on 09/06/2018 11:25:20 AM PDT by ETL
Scientists are analyzing the perfectly preserved remains of a prehistoric horse in a bid to clone the now-extinct animal.
Recently discovered in permafrost in the Siberian region of Yakutia, the skin, hair, hooves and tail of the carcass are all preserved. The remains are estimated to be 30,000 to 40,000 years old.
Experts believe that the foal was about 2 months old when it died.
Semyon Grigoryev, head of the Mammoth Museum in the regional capital of Yakutsk, was surprised to see the perfect state of the find. He noted it's the best-preserved ancient foal found to date. The Siberian Times reports that the foal is an extinct species of horse known as Lena horse, or Equus lenensis.
Russian and South Korean scientists are now working to extract cells from the foal that could potentially be used to clone the animal, according to The Siberian Times. If an embryo is successfully cloned, a modern horse could be used as a surrogate, experts say.
The foal was discovered in the Batagaika crater, a huge 328-foot deep depression in the East Siberian taiga. The giant crater is known locally as the doorway to the underworld.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Paleozoologists have been able to piece together a more complete outline of the modern horses evolutionary lineage than that of any other animal.
The horse belongs to the order Perissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates), the members of which all share hooved feet and an odd number of toes on each foot, as well as mobile upper lips and a similar tooth structure. This means that horses share a common ancestry with tapirs and rhinoceroses.
The perissodactyls arose in the late Paleocene, less than 10 million years after the CretaceousPaleogene extinction event. This group of animals appears to have been originally specialized for life in tropical forests, but whereas tapirs and, to some extent, rhinoceroses, retained their jungle specializations, modern horses are adapted to life on drier land, in the much-harsher climatic conditions of the steppes. Other species of Equus are adapted to a variety of intermediate conditions.
The early ancestors of the modern horse walked on several spread-out toes, an accommodation to life spent walking on the soft, moist grounds of primeval forests.
As grass species began to appear and flourish, the equids diets shifted from foliage to grasses, leading to larger and more durable teeth. At the same time, as the steppes began to appear, the horses predecessors needed to be capable of greater speeds to outrun predators. This was attained through the lengthening of limbs and the lifting of some toes from the ground in such a way that the weight of the body was gradually placed on one of the longest toes, the third.
*ping*
well played!
Wilbur!!
Of course, these adaptations were not by choice or will but by natural selection and occasional mutation, part of Darwin’s “theory.”
frozen prehistoric horse...
The Other Other Other Other White Meat
Your post is in the top ten reasons why Freerepublic should have a “Like” button.
He looks so sad. Why the long face?
Like
But, but, but...you mean animals evolved & went extinct due to climate change BEFORE humans walked the Earth?
Whooda thunk. /s
What could possibly go wrong with bringing extinct species back from extinction. and Of course scientist will always do the moral, ethical , smart things. {sarc}
Seen a NatGeo type story last month about a uber rich guy in Argentina who fancies himself a superstar and owns his own polo team of horses. Over 20 cloned horses that are all exactly the same. Physically and genetically superior to every other horse in the league. Im sure he didnt do it all himself.
Ed Norton: reading from a script, as he helps Ralph rehearse] "I don't possess a mansion, a villa in France, a yacht, or a string of poloponies."
Ralph: "I'm glad to hear..."
[stops and looks up]
Ralph: "String of poloponies"? Where do you see that?
Ed Norton:
[pointing at script]
Right there - "a string of poloponies".
Ralph: That's "a string of polo ponies"!
Norton pronounced poloponies "po-lop-phonies"
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