Yakut and Korean scientists have taken samples of the unique remains of a cub of a cave lion for a cloning attempt.
Earlier it was reported that on August 12, 2015, in the Abyisky region of Yakutia, as a result of the natural collapse of the bank of the Uyandina River (a tributary of the Indigirka River - IF), local entrepreneurs were lucky enough to accidentally discover unique finds - the remains of ancient animals. Later it turned out that these are lion cubs. The cubs have been named Wuyan and Dina, but the gender has not yet been determined. One of the lion cubs is completely preserved, while the other has no hind limbs.
According to preliminary research results, the approximate age of the cubs that did not have time to grow teeth can be from 1-2 weeks, the body length is about 43 cm, each weighs about 3 kg. Only one lion cub will be thawed to examine internal organs and take samples. According to scientists, lion cubs were contemporaries of mammoths.
“Samples of skin, together with muscle tissues, were taken from a less preserved lion cub, and it was decided to leave the other untouched (for future exposition - IF). We did not manage to select as many as we wanted, nevertheless, we hope that we will be able to find living cells,”the director of the Yakut mammoth museum Semyon Grigoriev told reporters on Friday.
According to S. Grigoriev, the remains of a lion whose only head was preserved, the right foreleg and the adjacent area were severely degraded. The surgery was performed on the shoulders and back.
“Koreans are skeptical enough, dissatisfied with the samples. Since they expected to take more (they claimed the whole paw of a lion cub - IF), as they had previously done with the remains of a mammoth. But here it will not work out, these are little kittens,”the scientist added.
The research will be carried out in two stages: cell research in the laboratory of the International Center for the Shared Use of Molecular Paleontology at the North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk, further operations in the South Korean Foundation for Biotechnological Research Sooam.
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Albert Protopopov, head of the mammoth fauna study department of the Yakutia Academy of Sciences, told Interfax-Far East that a scientific work plan for this project has been created, but active research, including radiocarbon dating, will begin only in the second half of this year.
“This is the first sampling, they have not been subjected to surgical interventions before. The main research will begin only in September. Thus, we will not get the first results on dating soon,”A. Protopopov explained.
Scientists note the uniqueness of the found remains, which have no analogues either in Russia or in the world. Therefore, this type of cave lions will be studied from scratch. Currently, the leading research institutes of Russia and the world are interested in the find.
Relying on data on modern African lions, Yakut scientists shared with one of the versions of the death of the found cubs: “Usually the female leaves the pride on the eve of birth. She hides her children in a hole, a cave, in bushes, thorns and does not show them to the pride for 2-3 months until they get stronger. We assume that, having given birth, she hid them and went hunting. Perhaps at this time the mink was filled up. They immediately got into the anaerobic environment and thus survived to this day."