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The Arctic ground squirrel hibernates longer than any other species, for more than eight months of the year-- starting in early August until April. Their heart beats about once per minute and their core temperature becomes subzero. BBC Earth

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It's a debut that's been about 30,000 years in the making. Yukon paleontologists have this week unveiled another unusual find from the goldfields near Dawson City: a mummified Arctic ground squirrel from the Ice Age, curled up in a ball as though it died while hibernating.

It was found a few years ago, but it's being shown off now because the government is preparing the dead rodent for display at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre in Whitehorse, expected to reopen later this spring after a redesign. At first glance, the mummified animal doesn't look like much more than a dried-up clump of brown fur and skin.

"It's not quite recognizable until you see these little hands and these claws, and you see a little tail, and then you see ears," said Grant Zazula, a Yukon government paleontologist.

"I study bones all the time and they're exciting, they're really neat. But when you see an animal that's perfectly preserved, that's 30,000 years old, and you can see its face and its skin and its hair and all that, it's just so visceral. It brings it so to life."

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