Woolly mammoth among trove of ancient DNA found in squirrel poo
Yahoo • • general
Key Points:
- Scientists discovered a vast collection of ancient animal DNA, including extinct woolly mammoths, preserved in frozen squirrel feces in Yukon, Canada, dating from 3,000 to 700,000 years old.
- The DNA trove also contained genetic material from wolves, bison, horses, cheetahs, and hundreds of plants, offering valuable insights into biodiversity changes over millennia.
- Arctic ground squirrels' behavior of gathering and storing diverse materials in their burrows, which were later sealed by permafrost, created natural time capsules preserving this genetic information.
- Researchers reconstructed 18 mitochondrial genomes, including six woolly mammoths from different periods, providing data that could aid de-extinction efforts, although experts remain skeptical about such projects.
- The study, published in Nature Communications, highlights the unexpected scientific value of analyzing ancient feces and promises further revelations about woolly mammoth evolution.