ANIMALS
Malaysia
says goodbye
to the last
Sumatran
rhino
Words by Mindy WeisbergerT
he last Sumatran rhino in Malaysia,
a female dubbed ‘Iman’, died on
23 November at the Borneo Rhino
Sanctuary in Sabah. Her death at age 25
marks the extinction of her species in that
country and is a grim reminder of the
animals’ vulnerability; fewer than 80 wild
Sumatran rhinos (Dicerorhinus
sumatrensis) remain in the wild,
according to the International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Captured
in 2014 and brought to the sanctuary for a
breeding programme, Iman suffered from
uterine fibroid tumours – growths on the
walls of her uterus – that sent her health
into a serious decline over the past few
years, Malaysian news site Malaysiakini
reported. Recently, Iman’s tumours were
putting increasing pressure on her
bladder and causing her significant
pain, officials told Malaysiakini. The
rhinoceros reportedly died from shock,
said state tourism, culture and
environment minister Datuk Christina
Liew, according to Malaysian English-
language news site The Star.Sumatranrhinosarethesmallestspecies,about
onemetretallandweighingaround 900 kilogramsHISTORY
18,000-year-old Siberian
pup links wolves to dogs
Words by Mindy WeisbergerA
young pup that spent 18,000 years
buried in Siberian permafrost looks
remarkably lifelike and pettable – for a
freeze-dried mummy. The ice-age canine's
body emerged from its frozen tomb in near-
perfect condition, retaining even the pads and
nails on its small feet and plent y of hair, dow n
to its tiny eyelashes and delicate whiskers.
The pup still had its milk teeth, suggesting it
was under t wo months old when it died. The
body is so well preser ved that its resemblance
to a wolf is clearly v isible, The Siberian Times
recentlyreported.Butistheyoungstera wolf,or
a dog?Dogsaredescendedfromwolves,and
theirlineagemayhavesplitfromtheirlupine
ancestors’asearlyas40,000yearsago,
accordingtoancientDNAev idence.Scientists at the Universit y of Stockholm's
Centre for Palaeogenetics conducted genetic
tests on the Siberian pup's remains, but they
were unable to determine if the mummy
represented a dog or a wolf. Researchers
discovered the mummified pup during the
summer of 2018 near the Indigirka River in
Yakutia, in the northeastern part of Russia.
The oldest know n fossil of a domesticated
dog dates from 14,700 years ago, though
remains of dog-like canines are know n from
35,000 years ago. A mummified canine dating
from18,000yearsagocouldbea dog,a wolfor
possiblyananimalw ithtraitsofboth."We
can’twaittogetresultsfromfurthertests,"
SergeyFedorovoftheNorth-EasternFederal
Universit yinYakutsk,Russia,toldtheTimes.© Alamyhttp://www.howitworksdaily.com How It Works 017
Scientists named the ancient pup ‘Dogor’,
which is ‘friend’ in the Yakut language
© Sergey Federov/The Siberian Times