NEWS: Informational thread.

First 'intact' cave bear found in Russian Arctic.
High temperatures are accelerating the melting of permafrost, leading to incredible finds like this one.

The permafrost finds are nothing new, but this latest find is incredible: perfectly preserved remains of an Ice Age cave bear have been discovered in the Russian Arctic

It would be the first specimen of the species that has been found with all the soft tissues intact, it even had its snout in perfect condition, according to scientists at the Northwest Federal University in Yakutsk, Siberia. Before only bones and skulls had been found.

It was found on the Great Liajovsky Island, located between the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea, in northern Russia.

This species is a Ursus spelaeus cave bear, a prehistoric species that lived in Eurasia in the Middle and Late Pleistocene that became extinct about 15,000 years ago. This specimen may be between 22,000 and 39,500 years old.

Recent years have seen major discoveries of mammoths, woolly rhinos, Ice Age foals and several cave lion cubs as permafrost melts in Siberia due to high temperatures associated with climate change.

Permafrost is the layer of soil under the active soil that is permanently (perma) frozen (Frost).

It has a geological age of more than 15 thousand years and now it is in danger because it is in continuous thaw

This past July we saw the first images of soft tissue preserved in a woolly mammoth, except for the brain. This was found in another specimen in 2014, named Yuka. The best preserved woolly mammoth in the world named Lyuba was found in 2007.

But in addition to these findings, permafrost stores huge amounts of greenhouse gases such as methane. This is due to the organic decomposition of the plants that were trapped in it in the freezing process.

If permafrost melts, twice the amount of carbon in the atmosphere can also be released.