permafrost

ロシアで先史時代に存在していたと思われるイヌのような動物が発掘されたそうです。

炭素年代法による測定ではおよそ1万８千年も前のものだそうです。損傷がほとんどなく、鼻の部分を始め、毛並みや歯などがほとんどそのままの形で残っているということで、貴重な研究史料となるようです。


A prehistoric puppy believed to be 18,000 years old was found in permafrost, and presented at a news conference by Russian scientists Monday.

Its hair, teeth, whiskers and eyelashes were still intact when it was discovered last year in a lump of frozen mud, providing ample material for researchers looking to investigate the origins of dogs.

“This puppy has all its limbs, pelage – fur, even whiskers. The nose is visible. There are teeth. We can determine due to some data that it is a male,” Nikolai Androsov, director of the Northern World private museum where the remains are stored, said at a presentation at the Mammoth Museum in Russia’s North Eastern Federal University, per the Associated Press.

Scientists from the Stockholm-based Center for Palaeogenetics took a sample of the puppy's bone to study its DNA.
(Josua Bote. Ancient puppy found in permafrost believed to be 18,000 years old, scientists say. USA Today. December 2, 2019.)


損傷が少ないのは、永久凍土層から発見されたということがあるようです。

記事で、"permafrost"という単語が使われていますが、"permanent"と"frost"を組み合わせたいわゆる「かばん語」の類です。

このイヌと思しき動物はDogorと名付けられました。（Dogorはヤクート語で友達の意だそうです。）