The newly-restored greenhouse in the Augustinian abbey where the father of modern genetics, Gregor Johann Mendel, cross-bred pea plants, opened to the public on Saturday.
Archaeologists in Brno have announced a unique discovery. During a dig in the city’s Vídeňská Street, they unearthed fragments of a skull of the now extinct woolly rhinoceros. It was most likely killed by prehistoric hunters, who resided in the area 16,000 to 20,000 years ago.
Along with mammoths, woolly rhinos were part of the megafauna during the Ice Age and a part of our ancestor’s diet. The closest extinct relative to the Sumatran Rhino was common throughout Europe and northern Asia and lived to see the end of the last glacial period.
The animal was covered with long, thick hair that helped it survive the harsh, cold weather and had a massive hump. Images of woolly rhinos have been found on cave paintings both in Europe and Asia.
Archeologists working in Brno discovered the lower part of an 18,000-year-old skull of the now extinct woolly rhinoceros. The discovery was made during a dig in Brno s Vídeňská street. The skull still contains the roots of some of the animal’s teeth. The team believes that the rhinoceros was brought to the location by hunter-gatherers who may have resided in the area.
“We have found several old bones in this area, such as pieces of a mammoth and of other animals”, Lenka Sedláčková from the Archai Brno organisation told Czech Television on Friday. The skull fragment will be transported to the Antropos Institute for cleaning and research, after which it will be added to the collection of the Moravian Museum.