30,000-Year-Old Preserved Squirrel Discovered

This brown, twisted mass of fur and claws was initially unrecognisable. But, X-ray analyses have shown that this grapefruit-sized mass is actually a preserved ground squirrel from the Ice Age that dates back 30,000 years.

According to the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre, a gold miner discovered the mystery fur ball in 2018 in the Klondike gold fields close to Dawson City, Yukon.

Palaeontologist Grant Zazula of the Yukon government mentioned that it is not really recognisable until you see these tiny hands and claws, a tiny tail, and then ears. For more research, he brought it to a veterinarian named Jess Heath. A juvenile, curled-up Arctic ground squirrel was discovered inside the frozen hair ball after Heath conducted X-ray scanning. It probably perished during hibernation, perhaps in the first year.

Health explained that the material was found in a good condition and it was curled up. She was glad that it had been identified for what it was. It simply seems to be a brown glob from the outside. It resembles a brown rock in several ways.

Meanwhile, during the last ice age, the Yukon's Klondike gold fields have been buried in permafrost, or permanently frozen earth. Because of this, the location is ideal for preserving extinct animals, down to their hair and nails. There, gold miners have also discovered a perfectly preserved baby mammoth and a mummified wolf pup.