Human hunting and rapid climate change are two of the main culprits behind the massive extinction of wild animals throughout the Ice Age. One of these animals included the woolly rhinoceros, which roamed the frigid landscapes of Asia, Europe, and Africa.

The woolly rhinoceros—which stood more than six feet tall and 16 feet long–once co-existed with humans. Similar to the woolly mammoth, the woolly rhino had thick fur coats and two horns above their nose.

Miners in the Oymyakon District of Sakha Republic, Russia uncovered the mummified carcass of a woolly rhino with a well-preserved horn. The region’s permafrost likely contributed to the excellent condition of the carcass.

“Until today, there was no such rare find in the collection of the Mammoth Museum,” Maxim Cheprasov, the Senior Researcher and Head of the Laboratory of the North-Eastern Federal University (NEFU) Mammoth Museum said in a digitally translated press release.

Initially, the miners took pause when they discovered an oddly shaped lump. After cleaning their unknown treasure, they realized that the lump was a woolly rhino, a species that went extinct nearly 12,000 years ago.

Researchers studying the horn believe that it is the rear frontal one that belongs to a mature rhino. However, researchers will need to conduct a more comprehensive study to determine the animal’s exact age and gender.

Another press release states that the specimen’s stomach was completely preserved, allowing researchers to better understand its diet and the environment it lived in.

This isn’t the first time researchers have discovered an ancient woolly rhino. According to NEFU’s press release, scientists have found a significant portion of the world’s unique mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, bison, musk oxen, cave lions, and other bygone animals in Yakutia.

Permafrost mummies are rare, according to Julie Meachen, an associate professor of anatomy at Des Moines University. “The animal has to die in a permafrost location, where the ground is frozen all the time, and they have to get buried very quickly, like any other fossilization process,” she said. “If it lays out on the frozen tundra too long it’ll decompose or get eaten.”

Over the years, researchers have found several woolly rhinoceros species and other ancient animals frozen in Siberia and preserved in oil seeps in Central Europe. In 2020, locals discovered a preserved woolly rhino in Eastern Siberia.

“Any finds of entire mummified body fragments of the mammoth complex are a unique material for a wide range of studies that will allow you to learn new information about the individual development of animals, diet, living conditions,” Denis Petrov, a junior researcher at the Northeast Integrate Research Institutes of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said.

While many are concerned about the warming earth, researchers are excited to better understand the climate, geographical, and biological factors of the ancient world.