"Siberian Horses' Rapid Evolution for Survival in −70°C"
Yakutian horses in Northern Siberia have rapidly evolved to survive in extreme cold, with the ability to reduce their metabolic rate and lower their core body temperature, a phenomenon researchers call "standing hibernation." Their adaptations arose in just a few hundred years, making it one of the fastest cases of adaptation to extreme Arctic temperatures. Genetic analysis suggests that these horses were likely introduced to the region a few centuries ago, and they exhibit convergent evolution with native human populations and woolly mammoths, making them the most cold-resistant indigenous breed in Russia.