Still snarling after 40,000 years, a giant Pleistocene wolf discovered in Yakutia
By The Siberian Times reporter
07 June 2019
Sensational find of head of the beast with its brain intact, preserved since prehistoric times in permafrost.

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The Pleistocene wolf’s head is 40cm long, so half of the whole body length of a modern wolf which varies from 66 to 86cm. Picture: Albert Protopopov
The severed head of the world’s first full-sized Pleistocene wolf was unearthed in the Abyisky district in the north of Yakutia. 
Local man Pavel Efimov found it in summer 2018 on shore of the Tirekhtyakh River, tributary of Indigirka.
The wolf, whose rich mammoth-like fur and impressive fangs are still intact, was fully grown and aged from two to four years old when it died. 

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The wolf, whose rich mammoth-like fur and impressive fangs are still intact, was fully grown and aged from two to four years old when it died. Picture: Albert Protopopov
The head was dated older than 40,000 years by Japanese scientists.
Scientists at the Swedish Museum of Natural History will examine the Pleistocene predator’s DNA.
‘This is a unique discovery of the first ever remains of a fully grown Pleistocene wolf with its tissue preserved. We will be comparing it to modern-day wolves to understand how the species has evolved and to reconstruct its appearance,’ said an excited Albert Protopopov, from the Republic of Sakha Academy of Sciences. 

*This image is copyright of its original author

Local man Pavel Efimov found it in summer 2018 on shore of the Tirekhtyakh River, tributary of Indigirka.
The Pleistocene wolf’s head is 40cm long, so half of the whole body length of a modern wolf which varies from 66 to 86cm. 
The astonishing discovery was announced in Tokyo, Japan, during the opening of a grandiose Woolly Mammoth exhibition organised by Yakutian and Japanese scientists. 

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CT scan of the wolf's head. Pictures: Albert Protopopov, Naoki Suzuki
Alongside the wolf the scientists presented an immaculately-well preserved cave lion cub. 
‘Their muscles, organs and brains are in good condition,’ said Naoki Suzuki, a professor of palaeontology and medicine with the Jikei University School of Medicine in Tokyo, who studied the remains with a CT scanner. 
‘We want to assess their physical capabilities and ecology by comparing them with the lions and wolves of today.’

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‘This is a unique discovery of the first ever remains of a fully grown Pleistocene wolf with its tissue preserved.' Pictures: Naoki Suzuki
The cave lion cub named Spartak - previously announced - is about 40cm long and weighed about 800 grams. 
Scientists believe the cub died shortly after birth. 
The recent discovery follows that of the remains of three cave lions in 2015 and 2017 by the same team.
The cave lion cub named Spartak - previously announced - is about 40cm long and weighed about 800 grams. Pictures: The Siberian Times, YSIA

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Recently I viewed a few discussions from Carnivora, in which I found claims like "tigers having wider skulls relative to skull lengths". Which is also my opinion. 

But the data regarding this is very low on internet. I haven't found much of info on old AVA threads, and sadly some images are missing. 

I need the info regarding skull widths relative to skull lengths of both lions(African) and tigers (Bengal), Especially from @GuateGojira, @GrizzlyClaws and @tigerluver. Although, anyone is free to answer..

Each year, almost two million wildebeest and 20 000 plains game migrate from Tanzania's Serengeti to the south of Kenya's Masai Mara in search of lush grazing grounds and life-giving water. This treacherous odessey is dictated by the seasons and where the rains are, the wildebeest are not far behind. This epic journey from north to south spans almost 3000 kilometres and is virtually endless.
This great spectacle of nature is an iconic safari option for avid travellers, nature lovers and those who want a little more from their African experience. 
Rather than having a start or end point, the Great Migration moves rhythmically in a clockwise direction, making herd tracking unpredicatable. It is for this reason that our Herdtracker app was created; to help you track the wildebeests' movements and plan the safari of a lifetime. Choose from our existing safari packages or tailor-make your own journey according to your budget. 
Below, you'll find some useful resources that detail when to go, where to stay and what to expect along this unforgettable journey. 


maraengailodge

Between the month of November and December, over a million wildebeests usually arrive at the plains of the Serengeti. To our surprise, we saw this at Mara Engai. The great migration is happening very early this year and we are looking for answers as to why. Check out our story for a sneak peek ?: Jason Hafso 

naiborcamp

They’re here! Exciting news from the Mara and many thanks to our guest @baruahprerna for capturing this footage from the Sand river yesterday morning. There are currently hundreds of wildebeests above camp and we can’t wait for more migration excitement. 

Cheetah's killing Kudu Bull

Cheetah Killing Kudu Bull @4:50

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We know that tigers and lions have been a neighbours and coexisted for thousands of years in India. But there is one other vast country in Asia where these two mega-predators also coexisted - Iran, called historically "Persia". Maps of distribution of Persian lions are quite general and a bit fogy, but here is a map of the distribution of Caspian tiger:





http://www.catsg.org/fileadmin/fileshari...n_Iran.pdf

As we can see the range of Caspian tiger included primary the northern part of Iran, more specially wet woody slopes of Alborz mountain elevated to more than 5000 m and covered by lush oak forests. Other parts of the Iran are much drier and covered by steppes, semi-deserts and should had been a primary habitat of the Persian lion. Somewhere in the north, probably on the general latitude of Teheran these two mega-cats should have met each other. Below is a rock barelef from 19th century Qajar dynasty near Teheran depicting the king hunting lion:




So, Persian lion and Caspian tiger were neighbours in Iran, and probably in the areas with mixed vegetation they somehow coexisted.

@BorneanTiger , @Sanju do you have a precise detailed map of the former range of Asiatic lion in Iran in order to compare it with the map of the Caspian tiger? The maps I saw in internet are quite general and probably not very correct. By the way in this scientific article you can find a wonderful photos of skins of Caspian tigers in Teheran Natural museum and a info about a Caspian in the Moscow zoo you asked me last year:

http://www.catsg.org/fileadmin/fileshari...n_Iran.pdf

To start off with, the Caucasian or Persian leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana as per the 2017 revision of subspecies of the Cat Specialist Group, Pages 73–75: https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/hand...sAllowed=y, synonyms: Panthera pardus ciscaucasia and Panthera pardus saxicolor) is present in Ciscaucasia or North Caucasus, which is in European Russia, meaning that there are leopards in Europe! http://www.catsg.org/fileadmin/fileshari...ucasus.pdf, http://assets.panda.org/downloads/caucas...tegy_1.pdf

Caucasian leopard in the reintroduction center in Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, North Caucasus, European Russia. Credit: The National Geographic: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016...ls-russia/

Post whatever information is available on this big cat. We can answer questions like.... 

1. What was on the menu? 

2. What were it's rivals? 

3. Was it social? 

4. Was there any sexual dimorphism? (if social, this can give an insight as to how the social structure probably worked) 

5. What was the estimated weight? 

I'll answer 3., they did coexist with Adcrocuta  hyenas, which likely lived in clans, so a social system would have been helpful in defending kills, territory, cubs, and mates.

Era um morto espécime em 1990 no Brasil o que seria seu tamanho e peso?