Meat found in ancient wolf's stomach sheds light on woolly rhino's demise

Researchers have shed light on the final centuries of the woolly rhinoceros after studying a hairy lump of meat from the stomach of an ancient wolf cub that became mummified in the Siberian permafrost.

- Ian Sample

The remains of a two-month-old female wolf cub were discovered in 2011 near the village of Tumat in northeastern Siberia. She is thought to have died 14,400 years ago when a landslide collapsed its den.

The frigid conditions preserved the wolf for millennia and scientists found her stomach contents were also intact. Her last meal was a chunk of woolly rhino, a herbivore that died out about 14,000 years ago.