Penza, 21 February 2017. PenzaNews. The dean of the faculty of physico-mathematical and natural sciences of V.G. Belinsky Penza State Pedagogical University Sergei Titov and the associate professor of the department of zoology and ecology of Penza State University Oleg Ermakov within a group of scientists from Russia, Israel, and the USA analyzed the DNA of mummified ground squirrels aged 30,000 years.

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The animal remnants were discovered in 1946 at the depth of 12.5 metres in Yakutia, where in permafrost, a burrow with three ground squirrels was presumably located.

According to the scientists, the dead animals are well-preserved, which allowed deciphering the mitochondrial DNA and carrying out a phylogenic analysis for the creation of a migration map of the species.

As it was reported by the press service of Penza State University, the Penza scientists contributed to the research by carrying out a comparative analysis of the DNAs of an ancient and a modern ground squirrels.

"As the result of the research, the scientists wrote and published an article, which is already quoted by domestic electronic mass media, in the prestigious magazine 'Scientific Reports' of the publishing house 'Nature'," the press service added.