Check out these animals found frozen in ice! This top 10 list of amazing animals discoveries has some ancient animals that were frozen in time for eternity!

10. The Yuka Mammoth

The Yuka mammoth is one of the most well known and scientifically valuable animals that have ever been found. It was discovered in 2010 within the Siberian permafrost on the coast of the Laptev Sea in Russia. The most unusual thing about this 39,000yearold mammoth was that it was mummified, and had the most intact mammoth brain ever found, with folds and blood vessels still visible.

Finding specimens like this is incredibly helpful to understanding the species. Studies of the brain showed it to be very similar to modern day elephants, and also led to researchers to developing better ways of storing mammoths in the future when new ones are found. Along with the Yuka mammoth, a number of other ones have been found in the region, although not in as good condition, and have been highly sought after by researchers for a different purpose.

Because of their relatively intact DNA, and their status as an intriguing extinct animal that is very similar to some that exist today, the mammoth is a great candidate for bringing a species back from extinction using cutting edge technology. It is believed that with a bit of luck and perseverance, we might once again see these giants alive and well, and maybe within just a few years! I would definitely love to see that!
9. Moose

It’s rare enough to find an animal preserved in ice, but rarer still is the apparent freezing of two animals when they’re interacting with each other. Well this is what a couple of hikers found in Alaska in 2016.

Beneath 8 inches of ice was the stunning sight of two moose fighting each other, clearly so engrossed in their tussle that they failed to notice the approaching frost. In the fall, males tend to be more aggressive towards each other, likely due to territorial disputes or to gain the attention of a female, and at some point these two managed to get their antlers tangled. They probably drowned in the cold water before being frozen over as temperatures fell.

Soon after their discovery, the moose were removed from the ice by local enthusiasts who wanted to preserve the unusual find forever.

8. Fish

As a fish living in water, ice can be both a blessing and a curse. It’s the unique property of ice floating on top of water that helps to insulate warmth and allow fish to survive falling temperatures, but they aren’t always so lucky. In 2014, a sharp cold eastern wind sent temperatures plummeting very quickly around the island of Lovund in Norway, and instantly froze parts of the ocean.

Unfortunately for a large shoal of fish, thought to be attempting to escape a predator at the time, there was no chance to avoid the approaching ice, and they were frozen in place. The ice sheet was so thick that it was perfectly safe for people to walk across, and capture these amazing images of thousands of fish frozen in time.

This event had a major impact on the local ecosystem, because birds were unable to find any food, so the skies were strangely silent until the ice finally thawed.
7. Yukagir Bison

Siberia is one of the coldest places on earth that has been regularly inhabited for millennia. This makes it the perfect place to find frozen animals like the Yuka mammoth, and close by there was another discovery in 2011, the mummified remains of a Steppe Bison the ancestor to the modern bison. Discovered by a tribe in the YanaIndigirka Lowland, the bison was remarkably intact, with its brain and other organs almost perfectly preserved.

This is the most complete Steppe Bison ever to be found, and has allowed researchers to extensively study its brain, heart, digestive system and blood vessels, despite it being well over 9000 years old. With no visible signs of injury, it is thought that the lack of body fat around its abdomen is a clue as to how it died. Most likely from starvation as a result of the rapidly changing environment in the area at the time.

6. Selerikan Pony

In 1968, gold miners digging tunnels, about 30 feet below the surface of the Indigirka River in Siberia, found something surprising two legs and a tail of a pony sticking through the roof of one of their tunnels. Experts were called in from the Zoological institute of St. Petersburg to help recover the full animal, which they managed to do, apart from its head.

The body turned out to be of a Przewalski (prez walski) Horse, that nowadays is only found in Mongolia, and amazingly this one appeared to have died about 35,000 years ago. Analysis of the remains suggested that the horses lived relatively similar then to how they still do today.


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