Canada: ‘Brown blob’ found by gold digger turns out to be mummified 30,000-year-old squirrel

In 2018, a gold miner, going about his usual business found a mysterious fur ball in the Klondike gold fields near Dawson City, Yukon in Canada. At the time, the object seemed unidentifiable and clearly was not a gold nugget as the miner had set out to find. However, five years later, scientists have revealed that the mangled 'brown blob' of fur is a perfectly preserved Arctic ground squirrel that lived roughly 30,000 years ago during the Ice Age.

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Having spent thousands of years in the permafrost, the mummified squirrel's remains were too fragile to decipher.

"Arctic ground squirrels are tiny of course, it's curled up in a ball, so just by looking at it it's hard to tell what it is," said Grant Zazula, a Yukon government palaeontologist.

Hence, the researchers sought the help of a veterinarian with an X-ray machine to solve the mystery. Jess Heath, a veterinarian at the Alpine Veterinary Medical Centre conducted the X-ray scans and revealed that the tiny glob was actually a curled-up Arctic ground squirrel.

"We could see that it was in great condition and it was just curled up like it was sleeping," Heath was quoted as saying by CBC.

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"When you see the X-ray, you can see this curled-up skeleton, and the head, and the leg bones, and whatnot, and the tail, all curled up together and it looks amazing under the X-ray," added Zazula.

The little squirrel likely died while hibernating and through nature's unique ways, was mummified. The palaeontologists who discovered the squirrel's age have named it “Hester” because it was found near Canada’s Hester Creek.

Notably, the area where Hester was discovered is not far from the Alaskan border and has already produced several well-preserved fossils like giant beavers, wolf pup and a baby mammoth from the ice age.

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The squirrel discovered belongs to the same species of Arctic ground squirrel that still frequents the Yukon today. They make underground nests for their hibernations and it is perhaps the reason why Hester's nest was preserved for so long.

The unique specimen will soon go on display at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Center in Whitehorse, Canada for the public to closely observe Hester, who once roamed around the Yukon several thousand years ago.

"You’ll be able to see this incredible specimen on display at the Beringia Centre very soon! This fossil, along with many others will be incorporated into our new exhibits," the museum announced on its Facebook account.

(With inputs from agencies)

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