For the first time, Russian scientists have found fossilized remains of the saiga antelope that date back 20,000 years, to the recent ice age, on Khara-Tumus Peninsula in the Khatanga Gulf. Researchers from the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) and their colleagues from the Russian Geological Research Institute took part in the excavations.

“For the first time, fossilized remains of the saiga antelope that lived there some 20,000 years ago during the previous ice age were found near the coast of the Taimyr Peninsula,” the AARI press service said.

According to the scientists, this finding raises a riddle for the research community: how was this fastest of antelopes, which now inhabits steppes and semideserts, able to survive in the severe conditions of the mammoth steppe? Moreover, the saigas didn’t just survive, they also migrated to Eurasia’s southern regions during a warming period, while mammoths and many other ice age animals went extinct.