A mummified Pleistocene gray wolf pup

Affiliations

¹ Des Moines University, Department of Anatomy, Des Moines, IA, USA. Electronic address: julie.meachen@dmu.edu.
² Alaska Stable Isotope Facility, Water and Environmental Research Center, Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA; Water and Environmental Research Center, Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA; Department of Marine Biology, College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA.
³ Water and Environmental Research Center, Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA.
⁴ Alaska Stable Isotope Facility, Water and Environmental Research Center, Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA; Water and Environmental Research Center, Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA.
⁵ A.E. Lalonde AMS Laboratory, University of Ottawa, Ottawa , ON K1N 6N5, Canada.
⁶ Alpine Veterinary Medical Center, Whitehorse, YT, Canada.
⁷ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
⁸ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
⁹ Government of Yukon, Department of Tourism and Culture, Yukon Palaeontology Program, PO Box 2703, Whitehorse, YT, Y1A 2C6, Canada.
¹⁰ Government of Yukon, Department of Tourism and Culture, Yukon Palaeontology Program, PO Box 2703, Whitehorse, YT, Y1A 2C6, Canada; Collections and Research, Canadian Museum of Nature, PO Box 3443, Station D, Ottawa, ON, K1P 6P4, Canada.

PMID: 33352124
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.11.011

Free article

A mummified Pleistocene gray wolf pup

Julie Meachen et al. Curr Biol. 2020.

Free article

. 2020 Dec 21;30(24):R1467-R1468.

doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.11.011.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Des Moines University, Department of Anatomy, Des Moines, IA, USA. Electronic address: julie.meachen@dmu.edu.
² Alaska Stable Isotope Facility, Water and Environmental Research Center, Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA; Water and Environmental Research Center, Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA; Department of Marine Biology, College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA.
³ Water and Environmental Research Center, Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA.
⁴ Alaska Stable Isotope Facility, Water and Environmental Research Center, Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA; Water and Environmental Research Center, Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA.
⁵ A.E. Lalonde AMS Laboratory, University of Ottawa, Ottawa , ON K1N 6N5, Canada.
⁶ Alpine Veterinary Medical Center, Whitehorse, YT, Canada.
⁷ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
⁸ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
⁹ Government of Yukon, Department of Tourism and Culture, Yukon Palaeontology Program, PO Box 2703, Whitehorse, YT, Y1A 2C6, Canada.
¹⁰ Government of Yukon, Department of Tourism and Culture, Yukon Palaeontology Program, PO Box 2703, Whitehorse, YT, Y1A 2C6, Canada; Collections and Research, Canadian Museum of Nature, PO Box 3443, Station D, Ottawa, ON, K1P 6P4, Canada.

PMID: 33352124
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.11.011

Abstract

In July 2016, a mummified carcass of an ancient wolf (Canis lupus) pup (specimen YG 648.1) was discovered in thawing permafrost in the Klondike goldfields, near Dawson City, Yukon, Canada (Figure 1A). The wolf pup mummy was recovered along a small tributary of Last Chance Creek during hydraulic thawing that exposed the permafrost sediment in which it was preserved. This mummified wolf pup is important to the local Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in people, who named it Zhùr, meaning 'wolf' in the Hän language of their community. Here, we report detailed morphometric, isotopic, and genetic analyses of Zhùr that reveal details of her appearance, evolutionary relationships to other wolves and short life-history and ecology. Zhùr is the most complete wolf mummy known. She lived approximately 57,000 years ago and died in her den during a collapse of the sediments. During her short life, she ate aquatic resources, and is related to ancient Beringian and Russian gray wolves and her clade is basal to all living gray wolves. VIDEO ABSTRACT.

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A mummified Pleistocene gray wolf pup

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A mummified Pleistocene gray wolf pup

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Other Literature Sources

Research Materials