An Extinct Cave Bear's DNA Was Still Readable After 360,000 Years Image: Gennady Baryshnikov A tiny ear bone belonging to a cave bear that died some 360,000 years ago has yielded the oldest genome not sourced from permafrost. The newly sequenced genome is offering new insights into the evolution of cave bears and how climate change can precipitate the emergence of entirely new species. Advertisement “With DNA, we can decipher the genetic code of extinct animals long after they’ve gone, but over thousands of years, the DNA present in ancient samples slowly disappears, creating a time limit of how far back in time you can normally go,” Axel Barlow, the first author of the new study and paleogeneticist from Nottingham Trent University, said in a statement.