Siberia - Ice age cave bear found in perfect shape, even with the nose remained as it was

 RecentlyCNN.co.jp reported the following:

氷河期のホラアナグマ、鼻まで残る完全な姿で発見　シベリア

2020.09.15 Tue posted at 11:31 JST

 （ＣＮＮ） ロシア北極圏にあるリャホフスキー諸島で、完全なままの姿で保存されていた氷河期のホラアナグマの死骸が見つかった。研究チームによると、軟組織がそのまま残る死骸の発見は初めてだった。

ホラアナグマの死骸はトナカイの遊牧民が発見し、絶滅したマンモスやサイについて最先端の研究を行っているシベリア・ヤクーツクの北東連邦大学（ＮＥＦＵ）に引き渡した。

同大の研究チームによると、ホラアナグマの化石はこれまで骨格しか出土しておらず、軟組織まで残る死骸がそのままの姿で見つかったのは今回が初めてだった。内臓も全てそろって完全な状態で保存され、鼻までそのままの形で残っていた。

研究チームは「世界的に大きな重要性をもつ発見」と位置付ける。

ホラアナグマは中期から後期更新世にかけてユーラシア大陸に生息していたクマの仲間で、１万５０００年ほど前に絶滅した。今回見つかった死骸は２万２０００～３万９５００年前のものと推定される。

ヤクーツクのマンモス博物館研究所の専門家によると、正確な年代を特定するためには放射性炭素分析を行う必要がある。

発見現場はヤクーツクから遠く離れていて、研究チームが現地入りすることはできていない。

シベリアではここ数年で永久凍土が溶け、マンモスやケブカサイ、子馬、子犬、ホラアナライオンなどの化石が相次いで見つかっていた。

Translation

 (CNN) An ice-age cave bear carcass which had been preserved in its entirety was found in the Lyakhovskiy Islands in the Russian Arctic. According to the research team, it was the first time to find a corpse with soft tissue remaining intact.

The dead body of cave bear was discovered by reindeer herders, and it was handed over to the North-Eastern Federal University (NEFU) in Yakutsk, Siberia, which was conducting cutting-edge research on extinct mammoths and beasts such as wolves and mountain dogs.

According to a research team of this university, so far fossil cave bears had only been excavated in the skeleton, and this was the first time that a carcass together with soft tissue had been found as it was. All the internal organs were preserved in perfect condition, and up to the nose remained intact.

The research team regarded it as a "discovery of great importance worldwide."

Cave bears were a group of bears that lived on the Eurasian continent from the Middle to Late Pleistocene and became extinct about 15,000 years ago. The corpse found this time was estimated to be 22,000 to 39,500 years old. 

According to experts at the Mammoth Museum Institute in Yakutsk, radiocarbon analysis was needed to determine the exact age.

The discovery site was far from Yakutsk, and the research team had not been able to enter the site.

In Siberia, permafrost had melted in the last few years, and fossils such as mammoths, woolly rhinos, foals, puppies, and cave lions were found one after another.

I agree with the research team in saying that it is a "discovery of great importance worldwide". Among other things, this ice-age cave bear carcass could tell us about the evolution of animal and the natural environment in Siberia 30,000 to 40,000 years ago.