A gold miner found a mysterious grapefruit-sized fur ball. It turned out to be a 'perfectly preserved' 30,000-year-old squirrel.

• A Yukon gold miner discovered a mangled ball of fur about the size of a large grapefruit.
• X-rays show the fur ball is a curled-up ice-age squirrel in "great condition," scientists told CBC.
• The squirrel is estimated to be 30,000 years old and likely died during hibernation.

At first, this brown, mangled ball of fur and claws was unidentifiable.

But X-ray scans have revealed that this grapefruit-sized lump is a 30,000-year-old mummified ground squirrel from the ice age.