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Scottish Sun
6 days ago
- Science
- Scottish Sun
Mummified 14,000-year-old puppies with their FUR still intact and food still in their stomachs are found frozen in ice
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) SCIENTISTS have discovered two 14,000-year-old mummified "puppies" with their fur still intact and food still in their stomachs. Hidden beneath deep layers of permafrost in Northern Siberia, the ice age creatures were initially thought to be domesticated dogs. 3 The two well-preserved cub found in Siberia Credit: Runge et al./ Quaternary Research, 2025 3 The well-preserved cubs — which turned out to be sisters — were later found to be were actually wolf cubs Credit: Runge et al./ Quaternary Research, 2025 The well-preserved cubs — which turned out to be sisters — were later found to be were actually wolf cubs. The 'Tumat Puppies,' as they are known, contain hints of a last meal in their stomachs, including meat from a woolly rhinoceros and feathers from a small bird called a wagtail. The mummified animal carcasses were found in 2011 and 2015 alongside woolly mammoth bones that were seemingly cut and burned by humans. This suggests the wolf cubs might have been domesticated by humans who ate the meat before giving away the leftovers. However, there was no indication that the pups got their food directly from humans or even from rummaging through humans' mammoth butchering sites, researchers said. Anne Kathrine Runge, an archaeologist at the University of York in the UK, analysed genetic data from the gut contents as well as chemical signatures in the bones, teeth and soft tissue. Experts now believe that the animals were two-month-old wolf pups, believed to be sisters, with no evidence of interacting with people. The sisters 'inhabited a diverse landscape that was also occupied by humans,' they wrote, but 'this study found no evidence that can conclusively link them to human activities.' How the wolf cubs died also remains a mystery. "Neither showed signs of being attacked or injured either, which suggests that they died suddenly when the underground den collapsed, perhaps triggered by a landslide, and trapped them inside", the study said. Ms Runge said: "It was incredible to find two sisters from this era so well preserved, but even more incredible that we can now tell so much of their story, down to the last meal that they ate. 'Whilst many will be disappointed that these animals are almost certainly wolves and not early domesticated dogs, they have helped us get closer to understanding the environment at the time, how these animals lived, and how remarkably similar wolves from more than 14,000 years ago are to modern day wolves." Nathan Wales, an ancient-DNA specialist at the University of York, said: "Today, litters are often larger than two, and it is possible that the Tumat Puppies had siblings that escaped their fate. 'There may also be more cubs hidden in the permafrost.' The DNA testing showed that they likely belonged to a now-extinct population of wolves unrelated to today's dogs. Dogs and wolves are belived to be closely related. However, they diverged genetically somewhere between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago, according to Live Science, What is the Siberian permafrost? Siberian permafrost is a vast expanse of permanently frozen ground that covers approximately 80 per cent of Siberia, a region in the north-eastern part of Asia. This frozen layer, composed of soil, rock, gravel, and sand bound together by ice, remains at or below 0°C (32°F) for at least two consecutive years. Its thickness varies significantly, from less than a meter to over 1,500 meters in some parts of northern Siberia, such as the Lena and Yana River basins. The extent of permafrost is categorised into continuous, where 90-100% of the land is frozen, discontinuous (50-90%), and sporadic (10-50%). This frozen ground has historically provided a stable foundation for infrastructure, including large cities and industrial complexes. 3 Study co-author Nathan Wales Credit: Runge et al./ Quaternary Research, 2025 It comes after another mummified wolf pup dating back 57,000 years was unearthed in Canada - with its fur and teeth still intact. The Ice Age creature's head, tail, paws, fur and skin were perfectly preserved in the Arctic permafrost after it died aged just seven weeks. Its remains dug up by a gold miner near Dawson City in the Yukon also included exceptional details of the muscle tissues. The animal, a female, is thought to have died suddenly after its den collapsed. The remarkable find opens a window to life in ancient Canada's far north when woolly mammoths roamed the Earth. It also sheds light on the seven week old's lifestyle – and the evolution of modern wolves. The animal is the oldest ancient wolf on record. Lead author Professor Julie Meachen, of Des Moines University, Iowa, said: "She's the most complete wolf mummy that's ever been found. "She's basically 100 per cent intact – all that's missing are her eyes. "And the fact she's so complete allowed us to do so many lines of inquiry on her to basically reconstruct her life." The animal has been named Zhur – meaning "wolf" in the local indigenous Han language. By studying hair and tooth chemicals, the researchers found the pup's mother mainly ate aquatic foods. That probably meant seasonal consumption of fish from the Klondike River, which still has a modern-day spawning population of Chinook salmon. In other news, sacrificed llama mummies have been dug up in Peru and they're almost perfectly preserved after 500 years. A Viking temple dedicated to Old Norse gods like Thor has been unearthed by archaeologists.
The Irish Sun
6 days ago
- Science
- The Irish Sun
Mummified 14,000-year-old puppies with their FUR still intact and food still in their stomachs are found frozen in ice
SCIENTISTS have discovered two 14,000-year-old mummified "puppies" with their fur still intact and food still in their stomachs. Hidden beneath deep layers of permafrost in Northern Siberia, the ice age creatures were initially thought to be domesticated dogs. 3 The two well-preserved cub found in Siberia Credit: Runge et al./ Quaternary Research, 2025 3 The well-preserved cubs — which turned out to be sisters — were later found to be were actually wolf cubs Credit: Runge et al./ Quaternary Research, 2025 The well-preserved cubs — which turned out to be sisters — were later found to be were actually wolf cubs. The 'Tumat Puppies,' as they are known, contain hints of a last meal in their stomachs, including meat from a woolly rhinoceros and feathers from a small bird called a wagtail. The mummified animal carcasses were found in 2011 and 2015 alongside woolly mammoth bones that were seemingly cut and burned by humans. This suggests the wolf cubs might have been domesticated by humans who ate the meat before giving away the leftovers. However, there was no indication that the pups got their food directly from humans or even from rummaging through humans' mammoth butchering sites, researchers said. Anne Kathrine Runge, an archaeologist at the University of York in the UK, analysed genetic data from the gut contents as well as chemical signatures in the bones, teeth and soft tissue. Experts now believe that the animals were two-month-old wolf pups, believed to be sisters, with no evidence of interacting with people. The sisters 'inhabited a diverse landscape that was also occupied by humans,' they wrote, but 'this study found no evidence that can conclusively link them to human activities.' Most read in Science How the wolf cubs died also remains a mystery. "Neither showed signs of being attacked or injured either, which suggests that they died suddenly when the underground den collapsed, perhaps triggered by a landslide, and trapped them inside", the study said. Ms Runge said: "It was incredible to find two sisters from this era so well preserved, but even more incredible that we can now tell so much of their story, down to the last meal that they ate. 'Whilst many will be disappointed that these animals are almost certainly wolves and not early domesticated dogs, they have helped us get closer to understanding the environment at the time, how these animals lived, and how remarkably similar wolves from more than 14,000 years ago are to modern day wolves." Nathan Wales, an ancient-DNA specialist at the University of York, said: "Today, litters are often larger than two, and it is possible that the Tumat Puppies had siblings that escaped their fate. 'There may also be more cubs hidden in the permafrost.' The DNA testing showed that they likely belonged to a now-extinct population of wolves unrelated to today's dogs. Dogs and wolves are belived to be closely related. However, they diverged genetically somewhere between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago, What is the Siberian permafrost? Siberian permafrost is a vast expanse of permanently frozen ground that covers approximately 80 per cent of Siberia, a region in the north-eastern part of Asia. This frozen layer, composed of soil, rock, gravel, and sand bound together by ice, remains at or below 0°C (32°F) for at least two consecutive years. Its thickness varies significantly, from less than a meter to over 1,500 meters in some parts of northern Siberia, such as the Lena and Yana River basins. The extent of permafrost is categorised into continuous, where 90-100% of the land is frozen, discontinuous (50-90%), and sporadic (10-50%). This frozen ground has historically provided a stable foundation for infrastructure, including large cities and industrial complexes. 3 Study co-author Nathan Wales Credit: Runge et al./ Quaternary Research, 2025 It comes after another mummified wolf pup dating back 57,000 years was unearthed in Canada - with its fur and teeth still intact. The Ice Age creature's head, tail, paws, fur and skin were perfectly preserved in the Arctic permafrost after it died aged just seven weeks. Its remains dug up by a gold miner near Dawson City in the Yukon also included exceptional details of the muscle tissues. The animal, a female, is thought to have died suddenly after its den collapsed. The remarkable find opens a window to life in ancient Canada's far north when woolly mammoths roamed the Earth. It also sheds light on the seven week old's lifestyle – and the evolution of modern wolves. The animal is the oldest ancient wolf on record. Lead author Professor Julie Meachen, of Des Moines University, Iowa, said: "She's the most complete wolf mummy that's ever been found. "She's basically 100 per cent intact – all that's missing are her eyes. "And the fact she's so complete allowed us to do so many lines of inquiry on her to basically reconstruct her life." The animal has been named Zhur – meaning "wolf" in the local indigenous Han language. By studying hair and tooth chemicals, the researchers found the pup's mother mainly ate aquatic foods. That probably meant seasonal consumption of fish from the Klondike River, which still has a modern-day spawning population of Chinook salmon. Read more on the Irish Sun In other news, A Viking temple The world's most gruesome ancient burials Here's some of the most haunting archaeological discoveries ever made... Shackled skeletons: A mass grave in an ancient Greek cemetery was found to contain 80 skeletons all with their wrists clamped in iron shackles; archaeologists think they were victims of a mass execution but why this happened remains a mystery Mass child sacrifice: The remains of nearly 270 children sacrificed to the gods 500 years ago were recently found in a gruesome ancient mass grave in Peru Family massacre: Archaeologists recently discovered that a 5,000 year old mass grave site was the result of a tragic family massacre; the burial site in Poland contains the bodies of men, women and children who all had their skulls smashed to pieces Bog bodies: In 1950, experts found a bog body with a "face so fresh they could only suppose they had stumbled on a recent murder." The corpse, referred to as the Tollund man, is probably the most well-preserved body from pre-historic times in the whole world
New York Post
7 days ago
- Science
- New York Post
14,000-year-old mummified ‘puppies' unearthed with fur still intact in ‘incredible' discovery
Two well-preserved 14,000-year-old 'puppies' might not have been puppies at all. New research has shown that, after undergoing genetic testing, the ice age 'puppies' found melting out of the permafrost in Northern Siberia were actually wolf cub sisters — not domesticated dogs, as previously thought. The study, published in the journal Quaternary Research, revealed that the wolf littermates died somewhere between 14,100 and 15,000 years ago. 4 Two mummified 'Tumat puppies' turned out to be wolf cubs. Runge et al./ Quaternary Research, 2025 The 'Tumat Puppies,' still covered in fur and naturally preserved in ice for thousands of years, also had traces of their last meal still in their stomachs, which included meat from a woolly rhinoceros and feathers from a small bird called a wagtail. Anne Kathrine Runge, an archaeologist at the University of York in the UK, and her team analyzed genetic data from the gut contents as well as chemical signatures in the bones, teeth and soft tissue. Experts now believe that the animals were two-month-old wolf pups, believed to be sisters, with no evidence of interacting with people. 'It was incredible to find two sisters from this era so well preserved, but even more incredible that we can now tell so much of their story, down to the last meal that they ate,' wrote lead study author Anne Kathrine Wiborg Runge, an archaeologist at the University of York in the U.K., said in a statement. 'Whilst many will be disappointed that these animals are almost certainly wolves and not early domesticated dogs, they have helped us get closer to understanding the environment at the time, how these animals lived, and how remarkably similar wolves from more than 14,000 years ago are to modern day wolves.' 4 The 'Tumat Puppies' were still covered in fur and naturally preserved in ice for thousands of years. Mietje Germonpré, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences The mummified animal carcasses were found in 2011 and 2015 along with woolly mammoth bones that were seemingly cut and burned by humans, suggesting that the wolves could've potentially been very early domesticated dogs seeking food from humans — hence the woolly rhino meat discovered in one of their stomachs. However, there was no indication that the pups got their food directly from humans or even from rummaging through humans' mammoth butchering sites, researchers said. The sisters 'inhabited a diverse landscape that was also occupied by humans,' they wrote, but 'this study found no evidence that can conclusively link them to human activities.' 4 Excavation of a frozen woolly mammoth in Russia, 1902. Universal Images Group via Getty Images How the wolf cubs died also remains a mystery. Neither showed signs of being attacked or injured either, which suggests that they died suddenly when the underground den collapsed, perhaps triggered by a landslide, and trapped them inside, the study said. 'Today, litters are often larger than two, and it is possible that the Tumat Puppies had siblings that escaped their fate,' study co-author Nathan Wales, an ancient-DNA specialist at the University of York, said in the statement. 'There may also be more cubs hidden in the permafrost.' The DNA testing showed that they likely belonged to a now-extinct population of wolves unrelated to today's dogs. Dogs and wolves are closely related, though according to Live Science, they diverged genetically somewhere between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago. 4 Study co-author Nathan Wales is an ancient-DNA specialist at the University of York. Humans domesticated wild dogs around 15,000 years ago, but it's never been clear when the oldest domesticated dog came around. One possibility included the Bonn-Oberkassel dog, found in Germany in a human burial dated to 14,200 years ago — and because the Tumat puppies were older than they, it was assumed that they were among the oldest domesticated dogs. The research shows just how difficult it is for experts to prove when dogs became part of human society.
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
14,000-year-old mummified ‘puppies' weren't dogs at all, new research shows
Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Two well-preserved ice age 'puppies' found in Northern Siberia may not be dogs at all, according to new research. Still covered in fur and naturally preserved in ice for thousands of years, the 'Tumat Puppies,' as they are known, contain hints of a last meal in their stomachs, including meat from a woolly rhinoceros and feathers from a small bird called a wagtail. Previously thought to be early domesticated dogs or tamed wolves living near humans, the animals' remains were found near woolly mammoth bones that had been burned and cut by humans, suggesting the canids lived near a site where humans butchered mammoths. By analyzing genetic data from the gut contents and chemical signatures in the bones, teeth and soft tissue, researchers now think the animals were 2-month-old wolf pups that show no evidence of interacting with people, according to findings published Thursday in the journal Quaternary Research. Neither of the mummified wolf cubs, believed to be sisters, show signs of having been attacked or injured, indicating that they died suddenly when their underground den collapsed and trapped them inside more than 14,000 years ago. The den collapse may have been triggered by a landslide, according to the study. The wealth of data from the remains is shedding light on the everyday life of ice age animals, including how they ate, which is similar to the habits of modern wolves. 'It was incredible to find two sisters from this era so well preserved, but even more incredible that we can now tell so much of their story, down to the last meal that they ate,' wrote lead study author Anne Kathrine Wiborg Runge, formerly a doctoral student at the University of York and the University of Copenhagen, in a statement. 'Whilst many will be disappointed that these animals are almost certainly wolves and not early domesticated dogs, they have helped us get closer to understanding the environment at the time, how these animals lived, and how remarkably similar wolves from more than 14,000 years ago are to modern day wolves.' The multitude of research on these pups and other specimens also illustrates how difficult it is to prove when dogs, widely regarded as the first domesticated animal, became a part of human society. Trapped in thawing permafrost, the Tumat Puppies were discovered separately at the Syalakh site, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the nearest village of Tumat — one in 2011 and the other in 2015. They are approximately 14,046 to 14,965 years old. Hair, skin, claws and entire stomach contents can survive eons under the right conditions, said study coauthor Dr. Nathan Wales, senior lecturer in archaeology at the University of York in England. 'The most surprising thing to me is that the archaeologists managed to discover the second Tumat Puppy several years after the first was found,' Runge told CNN. 'It is very rare to find two specimens that are so well preserved and then they turn out to be siblings/littermates. It's extraordinary.' Like modern wolves, the pups ate both meat and plants. Though a woolly rhinoceros would be rather large prey for wolves to hunt, the piece of woolly rhino skin in one pup's stomach is proof of the canids' diet. The rhino skin, bearing blond fur, was only partially digested, suggesting the pups were resting in their den and died shortly after their last meal, Runge said. The color of the woolly rhino fur is consistent with that of a calf, based on previous research of a juvenile woolly rhino specimen found in the permafrost. Adult woolly rhinos likely had darker fur. The pack of adult wolves hunted the calf and brought it back to the den to feed the pups, according to the study authors. 'The hunting of an animal as large as a wooly rhinoceros, even a baby one, suggests that these wolves are perhaps bigger than the wolves we see today,' Wales wrote in a statement. The researchers also analyzed tiny plant remains fossilizing in the cubs' stomachs, revealing that the wolves lived in a dry, somewhat mild environment that could support diverse vegetation including prairie grasses, willows and shrub leaves. In addition to eating solid food, the pups were likely still nursing milk from their mother, according to the researchers. What scientists didn't find was evidence that mammoths were part of the cubs' diet, meaning it was unlikely that humans at the site were feeding the canids. Is it possible, though, that people shared woolly rhino meat with the cubs? That's something Wales considered, but now he believes the evidence points in the other direction. 'We know that modern wolves will hunt large prey like elk, moose and musk ox, and anyone who watches animal documentaries will know wolves tend to single out juvenile or weaker individuals when they hunt,' Wales wrote in an email. 'I lean toward the interpretation that the Tumat Puppies were fed part of a juvenile wooly rhino (by adult wolves).' The origin of the woolly rhino meat is impossible to pinpoint — the wolf pack could have hunted the calf or scavenged it from a carcass or even a butchering site — but given the age of the cubs and the fact that the den collapsed on them, it seems less likely that humans fed them directly, Runge said. That the cubs were being reared in a den and fed by their pack, similarly to how wolves breed and raise their young today, further suggests that the Tumat Puppies were wolves rather than dogs, Wales said. Painting a broader picture of ice age wolves is difficult because no written sources or cave art depicting them have been found, so it is unclear how wolf packs and ancient humans would have interacted, Runge said. 'We have to try to account for our own biases and preconceived notions based on human-wolf interactions today,' she wrote. 'And then we have to be okay with knowing we'll never be able to answer some of the questions.' Researchers are still trying to understand how domesticated dogs became companions to humans. One hypothesis is that wolves lived near humans and scavenged their food. But the domestication process would take generations and require humans to tolerate this behavior. Another hypothesis is that humans actively captured and hand-raised wolves, causing some of them to become isolated from wild populations, resulting in early dogs. Previous DNA tests on the cubs suggested they could have come from a now extinct population of wolves that eventually died out — and a population that did not act as a genetic bridge to modern dogs. 'When we're talking about the origins of dogs, we're talking about the very first domesticated animal,' Wales said. 'And for that reason, scientists have to have really solid evidence to make claims of early dogs.' All the evidence the authors of the new study found was compatible with the wolves living on their own, Wales said. 'Today, litters are often larger than two, and it is possible that the Tumat Puppies had siblings that escaped (the same) fate,' he said. 'There may also be more cubs hidden in the permafrost or lost to erosion.' Pinpointing where and when dogs were domesticated is still something of a holy grail in archaeology, evolutionary biology and ancient DNA research, said Dr. Linus Girdland-Flink, a lecturer in biomolecular archaeology at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. Though Girdland-Flink's research is on ancient wolves and dogs, he was not involved in the new study. But determining whether ancient remains like the Tumat Puppies are early domestic dogs, wild wolves, scavengers or tamed individuals isn't straightforward because of the fragmented archaeological record, he said. No one piece of evidence can lead to a definitive answer. And it's even harder to do a comparison involving cubs because adult traits help distinguish between wild wolves and domesticated dogs. 'Instead, we have to bring together different lines of proxy evidence — archaeological, morphological, genetic, ecological — and think about how they all fit,' Girdland-Flink wrote in an email. 'So, I really welcome this new multi-disciplinary reanalysis of the Tumat puppies.' Girdland-Flink wasn't surprised the cubs weren't associated with the mammoth butchering site — an absence of evidence that matters. And combined with the lack of strong genetic ties to domestic dogs, he agreed the cubs must have come from a wolf population that did not live with humans.
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
14,000-year-old mummified ‘puppies' weren't dogs at all, new research shows
Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Two well-preserved ice age 'puppies' found in Northern Siberia may not be dogs at all, according to new research. Still covered in fur and naturally preserved in ice for thousands of years, the 'Tumat Puppies,' as they are known, contain hints of a last meal in their stomachs, including meat from a woolly rhinoceros and feathers from a small bird called a wagtail. Previously thought to be early domesticated dogs or tamed wolves living near humans, the animals' remains were found near woolly mammoth bones that had been burned and cut by humans, suggesting the canids lived near a site where humans butchered mammoths. By analyzing genetic data from the gut contents and chemical signatures in the bones, teeth and soft tissue, researchers now think the animals were 2-month-old wolf pups that show no evidence of interacting with people, according to findings published Thursday in the journal Quaternary Research. Neither of the mummified wolf cubs, believed to be sisters, show signs of having been attacked or injured, indicating that they died suddenly when their underground den collapsed and trapped them inside more than 14,000 years ago. The den collapse may have been triggered by a landslide, according to the study. The wealth of data from the remains is shedding light on the everyday life of ice age animals, including how they ate, which is similar to the habits of modern wolves. 'It was incredible to find two sisters from this era so well preserved, but even more incredible that we can now tell so much of their story, down to the last meal that they ate,' wrote lead study author Anne Kathrine Wiborg Runge, formerly a doctoral student at the University of York and the University of Copenhagen, in a statement. 'Whilst many will be disappointed that these animals are almost certainly wolves and not early domesticated dogs, they have helped us get closer to understanding the environment at the time, how these animals lived, and how remarkably similar wolves from more than 14,000 years ago are to modern day wolves.' The multitude of research on these pups and other specimens also illustrates how difficult it is to prove when dogs, widely regarded as the first domesticated animal, became a part of human society. Trapped in thawing permafrost, the Tumat Puppies were discovered separately at the Syalakh site, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the nearest village of Tumat — one in 2011 and the other in 2015. They are approximately 14,046 to 14,965 years old. Hair, skin, claws and entire stomach contents can survive eons under the right conditions, said study coauthor Dr. Nathan Wales, senior lecturer in archaeology at the University of York in England. 'The most surprising thing to me is that the archaeologists managed to discover the second Tumat Puppy several years after the first was found,' Runge told CNN. 'It is very rare to find two specimens that are so well preserved and then they turn out to be siblings/littermates. It's extraordinary.' Like modern wolves, the pups ate both meat and plants. Though a woolly rhinoceros would be rather large prey for wolves to hunt, the piece of woolly rhino skin in one pup's stomach is proof of the canids' diet. The rhino skin, bearing blond fur, was only partially digested, suggesting the pups were resting in their den and died shortly after their last meal, Runge said. The color of the woolly rhino fur is consistent with that of a calf, based on previous research of a juvenile woolly rhino specimen found in the permafrost. Adult woolly rhinos likely had darker fur. The pack of adult wolves hunted the calf and brought it back to the den to feed the pups, according to the study authors. 'The hunting of an animal as large as a wooly rhinoceros, even a baby one, suggests that these wolves are perhaps bigger than the wolves we see today,' Wales wrote in a statement. The researchers also analyzed tiny plant remains fossilizing in the cubs' stomachs, revealing that the wolves lived in a dry, somewhat mild environment that could support diverse vegetation including prairie grasses, willows and shrub leaves. In addition to eating solid food, the pups were likely still nursing milk from their mother, according to the researchers. What scientists didn't find was evidence that mammoths were part of the cubs' diet, meaning it was unlikely that humans at the site were feeding the canids. Is it possible, though, that people shared woolly rhino meat with the cubs? That's something Wales considered, but now he believes the evidence points in the other direction. 'We know that modern wolves will hunt large prey like elk, moose and musk ox, and anyone who watches animal documentaries will know wolves tend to single out juvenile or weaker individuals when they hunt,' Wales wrote in an email. 'I lean toward the interpretation that the Tumat Puppies were fed part of a juvenile wooly rhino (by adult wolves).' The origin of the woolly rhino meat is impossible to pinpoint — the wolf pack could have hunted the calf or scavenged it from a carcass or even a butchering site — but given the age of the cubs and the fact that the den collapsed on them, it seems less likely that humans fed them directly, Runge said. That the cubs were being reared in a den and fed by their pack, similarly to how wolves breed and raise their young today, further suggests that the Tumat Puppies were wolves rather than dogs, Wales said. Painting a broader picture of ice age wolves is difficult because no written sources or cave art depicting them have been found, so it is unclear how wolf packs and ancient humans would have interacted, Runge said. 'We have to try to account for our own biases and preconceived notions based on human-wolf interactions today,' she wrote. 'And then we have to be okay with knowing we'll never be able to answer some of the questions.' Researchers are still trying to understand how domesticated dogs became companions to humans. One hypothesis is that wolves lived near humans and scavenged their food. But the domestication process would take generations and require humans to tolerate this behavior. Another hypothesis is that humans actively captured and hand-raised wolves, causing some of them to become isolated from wild populations, resulting in early dogs. Previous DNA tests on the cubs suggested they could have come from a now extinct population of wolves that eventually died out — and a population that did not act as a genetic bridge to modern dogs. 'When we're talking about the origins of dogs, we're talking about the very first domesticated animal,' Wales said. 'And for that reason, scientists have to have really solid evidence to make claims of early dogs.' All the evidence the authors of the new study found was compatible with the wolves living on their own, Wales said. 'Today, litters are often larger than two, and it is possible that the Tumat Puppies had siblings that escaped (the same) fate,' he said. 'There may also be more cubs hidden in the permafrost or lost to erosion.' Pinpointing where and when dogs were domesticated is still something of a holy grail in archaeology, evolutionary biology and ancient DNA research, said Dr. Linus Girdland-Flink, a lecturer in biomolecular archaeology at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. Though Girdland-Flink's research is on ancient wolves and dogs, he was not involved in the new study. But determining whether ancient remains like the Tumat Puppies are early domestic dogs, wild wolves, scavengers or tamed individuals isn't straightforward because of the fragmented archaeological record, he said. No one piece of evidence can lead to a definitive answer. And it's even harder to do a comparison involving cubs because adult traits help distinguish between wild wolves and domesticated dogs. 'Instead, we have to bring together different lines of proxy evidence — archaeological, morphological, genetic, ecological — and think about how they all fit,' Girdland-Flink wrote in an email. 'So, I really welcome this new multi-disciplinary reanalysis of the Tumat puppies.' Girdland-Flink wasn't surprised the cubs weren't associated with the mammoth butchering site — an absence of evidence that matters. And combined with the lack of strong genetic ties to domestic dogs, he agreed the cubs must have come from a wolf population that did not live with humans.
