Famous Siberian cave yields remains of yak-like Ice Age mammal

A Siberian cave, already renowned for its ancient human remains, has yielded evidence of a previously unknown large mammal species related to today's yak. This discovery was made in Denisova Cave, situated in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia, Russia. Researchers found bone fragments, some as small and unidentifiable as they were, which contained DNA identifying the animal as a distinct bovine species unrelated to others known, both living and extinct.

Analysis of 20 bone fragments from 200,000 to 27,000 years old revealed that this was a unique species diverging from modern yaks approximately 400,000 years ago. The animal, dubbed "Yak X," likely inhabited a grassland ecosystem, known as the mammoth steppe, populated with mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, and large predators, alongside other bovines like steppe bison and aurochs.

The findings not only expand our understanding of Ice Age mammals but also illuminate the possible dietary habits of Denisovans, our extinct cousins.