Stories
Scientists Discover Mysterious Ice Age 'Yak X' in Siberian Cave
- •Researchers analyzing bone fragments from Denisova Cave in Siberia have discovered a previously unknown Ice Age mammal nicknamed Yak X.
- •Ancient DNA extracted from 20 bone fragments revealed that the animal belonged to a distinct bovine lineage that separated from modern yaks about 400,000 years ago.
- •The species lived alongside woolly mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, and other megafauna in the Altai Mountains region.
- •Genetic evidence suggests Yak X may have experienced a population decline during a warming period around 120,000 years ago before eventually going extinct after 27,000 years ago.
- •The discovery raises intriguing possibilities about whether extinct Denisovans hunted the large bovine, though more direct archaeological evidence is needed.
Key Questions Answered
Yak X is a newly identified extinct Ice Age bovine species discovered through ancient DNA analysis of 20 fragmented bones found in Denisova Cave and surrounding sites in Siberia's Altai Mountains, as researchers could not identify the incomplete fossils visually.
Researchers estimate that the evolutionary lineage leading to Yak X separated from the ancestors of modern yaks approximately 400,000 years ago, with examined remains dating from roughly 250,000 to 27,000 years ago.
While the discovery of Yak X in Denisova Cave raises the possibility that Denisovans encountered and hunted the animal for food, current evidence does not definitively confirm human interaction, as scientists have not yet found cut marks or archaeological traces on the bones.
