18,000-Year-Old frozen wolf-dog puppy found in Siberia

Researchers have shared a picture of the ancient puppy after discovering in near perfect condition in Siberia. The puppy's full-body, thick hair, muzzle, and even whiskers and eyelashes were preserved by permafrost.

Scientists deduced that the creature was less than two months old when it died, and the cause of death is not yet determined. After a detailed study, scientists aren't sure whether the 'amazingly well-preserved' creature is a dog or wolf. Samples from the ancient canine were sent to the Swedish Centre for Palaeogenetics (CPG) in order to establish whether it was a wolf cub or dog.

According to the report, the Swedish scientists confirmed that the animal was 18,000 years old but added, "So far, we have sequenced its genome to 2X coverage, but we still can't say if it's a wolf or a dog. "The report further added that the puppy had been named Dogor, which in the local Yakut dialect means a friend.

We now have some news on the 18,000 year old #wolf or #dog puppy.

Genome analyses shows it's a male. So we asked our Russian colleagues to name it...

Thus, the name of the puppy is Dogor!

Dogor is a Yakutian word for "friend", which seems very suitable. pic.twitter.com/epIz8mEpVW

— Centre for Palaeogenetics (@CpgSthlm) November 25, 2019