US EditionScientists Sequence Woolly Rhino Genome From 14,400-Year-Old Wolf Pup Stomach
Genome sequencing from a mummified wolf pup's stomach reveals woolly rhinos stayed genetically healthy until a rapid population collapse caused by climate warming, scientists say.
- On Wednesday, Centre for Palaeogenetics scientists sequenced a complete woolly rhinoceros genome from tissue inside a Tumat‑1 wolf pup dated around 14,400 years old.
- By comparing late‑stage genomes, researchers report woolly rhinoceros remained viable for 15,000 years after first humans in northeastern Siberia, suggesting climate warming likely caused their rapid population collapse.
- Researchers compared the Tumat rhino genome to two older specimens dated about 18,000 and about 49,000 years ago, overcoming wolf DNA contamination and finding no increase in harmful mutations or inbreeding.
- Researchers say the result offers conservation insights, as recovering genomes from individuals before extinction can guide endangered species protection, Sölveig M. Guðjónsdóttir said extracting the genome was exciting but challenging during her master's thesis.
- Population reconstructions show a sharp decline from about 15,600 to about 1,600 individuals between 114,000 and 63,000 years ago, with range contraction eastward since around 35,000 years ago to northeastern Siberia.
73 Articles
73 Articles
Researchers make an amazing discovery in the stomach of an ancient wolf. The discovery changes our knowledge about the extinction of the ice age.
A piece of undigested meat, the size of a credit card, found in the stomach of a wolf cub about 14400 years ago has solved one of the great questions about the megafauna of the Ice Age. An international team has managed to sequence completely the genome of that woolly rhinoceros and concludes that the species was genetically healthy just before it disappeared. The main track is not human hunting, but a sudden climate warming that erased its cold…
Contents of a Wolf Pup’s Stomach From 14,400 Years Ago Are Teaching Researchers About the Lives of the Last Woolly Rhinos
Analysis of woolly rhinoceros DNA recovered from the permafrost-preserved wolf further hints that the Ice Age beasts went extinct because of a sudden shift in the climate
During the Ice Age, large, furry animals lived in Eurasia. One of them was the woolly rhinoceros.
DNA from wolf pup's last meal reveals new facts about woolly rhino's extinction
The woolly rhino, Coelodonta antiquitatis, would have been an impressive sight to the ancient people who painted images of them on cave walls and carved figurines of them out of bone, antler, ivory and wood.
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