Photos: Perfectly Preserved Baby Horse Unearthed in Siberian Permafrost

News
By published

Samples for testing

preserved foal

(Image credit: Michil Yakovlev/SVFU/The Siberian Times)

Even in the hooves

preserved foal

(Image credit: Michil Yakovlev/SVFU/The Siberian Times)

Scientists removed samples from within the hooves of the foal.

Perfectly preserved

preserved foal

(Image credit: Michil Yakovlev/SVFU/The Siberian Times)

Every part of the horse was still there, including the ears.

Gentle work

preserved foal

(Image credit: Michil Yakovlev/SVFU/The Siberian Times)

Using specialized tools the researchers gathered samples from the horse. Even the fine hairs inside the horse's nostrils remained after all these years.

Hair samples

preserved foal

(Image credit: Michil Yakovlev/SVFU/The Siberian Times)

The team took samples from the baby horse.

Careful analysis

preserved foal

(Image credit: Michil Yakovlev/SVFU/The Siberian Times)

A careful analysis will reveal more about the circumstances of the foal's life and death.

Old blood

Researchers collect liquid blood from the ice age foal found frozen in Siberian permafrost.

(Image credit: courtesy Semyon Grigoriev)

In 2019, the researchers announced that they had extracted liquid blood from the blood vessels preserved inside the foal. This is now considered the oldest liquid blood on record. [Read more about the liquid blood discovery]

Foal heart

Here, another image showing scientists extracting what is now considered the oldest liquid blood on record. This ice age foal was so exquisitely preserved that in addition to holding liquid blood, it still had urine in its bladder.

(Image credit: courtesy Semyon Grigoriev)

The ice age horse (Equus caballus lenensis) likely drowned in mud. Its body is so exquisitely preserved that not only did the researchers find blood, but they also found urine in its bladder. Here, the researchers examine the foal's preserved heart.

An artistic impression

preserved foal

(Image credit: The Siberian Times)

In the Pleistocene era, fauna and flora may have looked something like this.

Informed creation

preserved foal

(Image credit: The Siberian Times)

An artists presents his version of the Lenskaya, or Lena Horse in the Batagai crater.