WHITEHORSE — Missing pieces of a horse skeleton have turned up in a rather unlikely place — a newspaper office in Whitehorse, Yukon.
The Whitehorse Star reported last week that the skull and some leg bones of a horse skeleton appeared to have been taken from an excavation site.
The remains were discovered near Carcross, Yukon, on May 27 when some bones were spotted sticking out of the ground.
Government paleontologists began to investigate the next day, but found some pieces had vanished overnight.
A man dropped the missing remains at the Star Monday morning, telling the receptionist he had found them at his campsite.
The man wished to remain anonymous and said he brought them to the newspaper because he'd seen a story about them last week.
Government paleontologist Elizabeth Hall was pleased to pick up the bones Monday morning, about an hour after they were dropped off.
She had put out a call for the pieces last week, saying the territorial government was more interested in having them returned than prosecuting the individual who took them.
Hall said the skeleton is particularly valuable because the department doesn't yet have a complete modern horse skeleton in the collection of bones they use to compare with other remains to assist with identification.
The remains were originally thought to date back to the Gold Rush era of the late 1890s, but Hall said this week that researchers have learned they are likely much more recent.
Paleontologists dug down about one metre and were able to recover the rest of the skeleton, which helped them determine the horse was about five years old and pregnant when it died.
The skeleton is a rare find, Hall said, because it was largely intact and includes the remains of a fetus.
The leg bones were still attached to the hip sockets and some cartilage was preserved, she said. (Whitehorse Star)
