Dogor
Dogor is a preserved canine specimen that was found in the Siberian permafrost of Sakha in 2018. It is a remarkably well preserved two-month-old male puppy with fur and whiskers remaining. The animal has been determined to be 18,000 years old. DNA sequencing has been unable to identify the animal as either a dog or a wolf. The specimen was named Dogor by scientists, with the word meaning "friend" (Cyrillic: Догор) in the local Yakut language. Description. Dogor was found in the permafrost near the Indigirka River, north-east of Yakutsk, Sakha Republic in eastern Siberia by  archaeologist Mark John Charles Rogerson and his wife Nina, during summer 2018. It is the body of a two-month-old male canine puppy. The body is remarkably well preserved, and its fur, whiskers, nose and teeth remain intact. A part of its rib bone was analysed by radiocarbon dating, which placed it at 18,000 years old. Identification. Due to the animal's age, it is possible that it represents an evolutionary link between dogs and wolves. Scientists continue to debate the exact point at which dogs were first domesticated, but if Dogor is determined to be a dog, it  would be the oldest ever discovered. Dogor has, therefore, been described as coming from "a very interesting time in terms of wolf and dog evolution", possibly from around the time of the first domestication of dogs. DNA sequencing is usually sufficient to distinguish between dogs and wolves; however, even after a large amount of analysis, it has not been possible to determine to which species Dogor belongs. It is possible that Dogor represents a common ancestor of both species. Further DNA sequencing is to be undertaken in Denmark, and this may provide more insight.