Reindeer hunters found the remains of the bear on the Bolshoy Lyakhovsky islands in the East Siberian Sea and donated the carcass to Northeastern Federal University (NEFU) in Yakutsk, according to the BBC.
Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island, or Great Lyakhovsky, is the largest of the Lyakhovsky Islands belonging to the New Siberian Islands archipelago between the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea in northern Russia.
Scientists at the university describe the discovery as “unprecedented.” NEFU is well-known for its research into the woolly mammoths and other prehistoric species. Dr. Lena Grigorieva, a palaeontology researcher at the university, said the bear is “the first and only find of its kind” to be recovered in once piece with “soft tissue.”
“It is completely preserved, with all internal organs in place including even its nose. Previously, only skulls and bones were found. This find is of great importance for the whole world.”
According to the researchers, the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) is a prehistoric species or sub-species that lived in Eurasia in the Middle and Late Pleistocene period and became extinct some 15,000 years ago. Preliminary analysis suggests the bear is between 22,000 and 39,500 years old, reports CNN.
“{It is necessary to carry out radiocarbon analysis to determine the precise age of the bear,” said senior researcher Maxim Cheprasov from the Mammoth Museum laboratory in Yakutsk.
In 2005, an analysis of mitochondrial DNA extracted from cave bear remains ranging from 20,000 to 130,000 years old was performed. This study, along with a previous study confirmed that the cave bear was more closely related to the brown bear and polar bear than it was to the American black bear, but had split from the brown bear lineage before the distinct eastern and western brown bear lineages diversified and before the split of brown bears and polar bears.
Standing close to 3.5 meters (11.50 ft) tall while rearing up, the cave bear had a very broad, domed skull with a steep forehead. Its stout body had long thighs, massive shins and in-turning feet, making it similar in skeletal structure to the brown bear.
