A pair of cave lion cubs that died up to 44,000 years ago were found perfectly preserved in the Siberian permafrost. One starved to death, and the other may have been crushed by falling rocks, both possibly abandoned by their mothers.
When the cubs were dug up in 2018, it was believed they were male siblings who had died around 44,000 years ago. However, it turns out that the youngest cub was actually female and died roughly 26,000 years ago, as revealed by the Siberian Times.
She has been renamed from Spartak to Sparta after further research revealed the truth about her origins. It emerged that she died of hunger, likely after being abandoned by her mother. Alternatively, the cub’s mother may have simply failed to find food or had been killed herself. “She starved to death,” said Dr. Albert Protopopov, an expert on frozen remains who worked on the cubs.
