In 2020, the frozen, mummified carcass of a young woolly rhinoceros was unearthed in Siberia. The right side of the animal’s body is well-preserved, but the left side shows signs of being mauled by predators in the hours before or after its death.
While they were examining the remains, researchers caught sight of a feature that had never been seen before on the now-extinct woolly rhinoceros. It had a large hump on the back of its neck, which appeared to be filled with fat.
Ancient people in parts of Europe and Russia created cave drawings that depicted woolly rhinos with humps on their necks.
Researchers didn’t know what to make of the humps since the bones and mummified remains of woolly rhinos never contained a hump. Now, they have been able to confirm that woolly rhinos did have humps.
Woolly rhinos (Coelodonta antiquatatis) lived in the Arctic tundra between 460,000 and 12,000 years ago during the last ice age.
They were one of the largest herbivores in the mammoth steppe ecosystem, coming only second to woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius).
The rhino that led the researchers to this discovery was unearthed in 2020 in Yakutia, Siberia, along the banks of the Tirekhtyakh River. Since then, it has been kept in a freezer. They named it the “Abyisky rhinoceros” after the local district.
The research team removed it for their study and temporarily defrosted the specimen to get a closer look. They found evidence that the rhino was about four years old when it died.
Radiocarbon dating suggests it died more than 32,000 years ago. They also noted that half of the carcass was in excellent condition, while the other half had been torn away by predators before it could freeze.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
“From the upper part of the thigh to the level of the shoulder blade, [the carcass] is severely destroyed,” wrote the researchers of the study. “The internal cavity of the body is exposed, and most of the intestines are missing.”
The remains of tiny crustaceans stuck on patches of fur indicate that the woolly rhino perished in a shallow pool of water. The team also analyzed the woolly rhino’s teeth and horns.
One of the horns was 9.4 inches long and contained three to four dark patches that usually tell how long a rhino has lived. It was sharp and shaped like a blade.
Its fur was darker than that of a smaller woolly rhino calf found in the same region in 2014. That calf had thin, light-colored fur that was almost blonde.
“The fur of the Abyisky rhinoceros has a uniform light brown color due to the combination of white, beige, and brown hair,” wrote the researchers. “The coat is darker on the ears and feet and lighter on the back, belly, and hind legs.”
The most interesting feature was the fatty hump, which rose up to five inches high from the place where the neck met the shoulders. It was the first-ever physical evidence of a hump on a woolly rhino carcass.
Fatty humps are common in Arctic animals. They can serve as an energy source during harsh winters when the temperatures are extremely cold, and food is hard to find.