A Surprising Find in Ancient Squirrel Poop: Woolly Mammoth Meat
The New York Times • • science
Key Points:
- During the Klondike gold rush, prospectors discovered abundant fossils in Yukon, including woolly mammoth tusks, saber-toothed cat bones, and giant bison remains, as well as prehistoric ground squirrel dens filled with fossilized feces.
- Researchers analyzed the ancient squirrel droppings, preserved in ice for around 700,000 years, and found DNA from large animals like mammoths, saber-toothed cats, and bison, indicating the squirrels consumed meat from these species.
- The study, published in Nature Communications, highlights exceptional preservation of ecosystems over hundreds of thousands of years, enabled by the frozen, sealed conditions of the Klondike dens.
- Fossil DNA is typically difficult to obtain due to degradation and mineral replacement, but the unique preservation in Yukon allowed scientists to extract valuable genetic information from coprolites.