MOSCOW, July 25. /TASS/. Russian scientists inspecting a newly discovered preglacial cave in Crimea have discovered the bones of a saber-toothed cat that lived some 800,000 years ago, Dr. Dmitry Gimranov, a senior research fellow at the Urals-based Institute for the Studies of the Ecology of Vegetation and Animals told TASS.
The find is just one of a big number of unusual prehistoric objects found in a cave that construction workers hit upon near the township of Zuya while building the Tauride federal road.
Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov said earlier he had ordered the setting up of a commission to inspect the cave. The contractor company has suspended construction works at the section of the road adjoining the cave until the inspection is over, since experts say there is a risk of collapse of the road soil.
Researchers believe the discoveries made in the Zuya cave will help understand what Crimea looked like before the glacial age.
"We found the bones of a saber-toothed cat of genus Smiladon," Dr. Gimranov said. "We found a tooth and a fragment of the mandible. These are very interesting finds. They suggest the fauna in Crimea is quite ancient."
He also said the specialists would need full-scale expedition works in the cave.
"We’ve done only a survey now and have found out the cave is really unique and it stands in need of detailed examination," Dr. Gimranov said.
Dmitry Startsev, a leading counselor at the Museum of Zoology of the Crimean Federal University told TASS earlier Crimean researchers and their counterparts from Yekaterinburg had found the bones of an ancient giant rhino in the cave.
Other finds include the remains of bears, canines, horses, and old-world elephants.
Scientists have an original explanation for how the bones of huge prehistoric mammals might turn up in the cave. They say the remains could be hauled there by carnivores, like prehistoric hyenas.