Discovery of new lineage, insights into when and how fast mammoths adapted to cold climate
The mammoth that inhabited North America during the last ice age was a hybrid animal.
February 25, 2021
An international research team has sequenced DNA recovered from mammoth remains that are up to 1.2 million years old. The results are published in the journal
The analyses, funded in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation, show that the Columbian mammoth that inhabited North America during the last ice age was a hybrid between the woolly mammoth and a previously unknown genetic lineage of mammoth. The study also provides new insights into when and how fast mammoths became adapted to cold climate.