Mammoths are an extinct group of large, elephant-like mammals that belonged to the genus Mammuthus. They are best known for their long, curved tusks and, in some species, shaggy hair coats, adaptations to their cold, Pleistocene epoch environments which spanned from roughly 2.6 million to about 10,000 years ago. Mammoths were herbivores, grazing on a varied diet that included large amounts of grass and other vegetation. The most famous species is the Woolly Mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius, which roamed across the northern parts of North America, Europe, and Asia. Mammoths played a significant role in the ecosystems of the Ice Age and are often studied to understand prehistoric life and extinction patterns, with recent scientific efforts even exploring the feasibility of bringing them back via genetic resurrection techniques.
A groundbreaking study has mapped the genome and 3D chromosomal architecture of a 52,000-year-old woolly mammoth, uncovering details of its genetic activity and offering new…
Genetic analysis of the last woolly mammoths on Wrangel Island has revealed a population that managed to survive 6,000 years despite severe inbreeding and low…
Scientists have linked the movements of a 14,000-year-old woolly mammoth with early human settlements in Alaska. Analysis of the mammoth’s tusk revealed a journey that…
Research on a 14,000-year-old woolly mammoth unveils her migration patterns, interactions with early humans, and contributions to understanding mammoth life and extinction. An international team…
An international study used isotope profiling to connect a woolly mammoth’s movements to early human settlements, uncovering insights into human-mammoth interactions and the effects of…
A study comparing woolly mammoth genomes with modern-day elephants revealed key traits that defined the species, such as woolly coats, large fat deposits, and small…
Experts suggest that DNA found in sedimentary deposits likely originated from long-deceased animals. The mystery surrounding the exact timing of the extinction of mammoths has…
In 2010, small cores of permafrost sediments were collected by a team at the University of Alberta from gold mines in the Klondike region of…
Mere spoonsful of soil pulled from Canada’s permafrost are opening vast windows into ancient life in the Yukon, revealing rich new information and rewriting previous…
From 50,000 years to 6,000 years ago, many of the world’s largest animals, including such iconic grassland grazers as the woolly mammoth, giant bison, and…
New research shows that humans had a significant role in the extinction of woolly mammoths in Eurasia, occurring thousands of years later than previously thought….
New DNA research shows the world got too wet for the giant animals to survive. For five million years, woolly mammoths roamed the earth until…
US startup Colossal Biosciences has announced plans to bring woolly mammoths, or animals like them, back from extinction and into the frosty landscape of the…
From the isotopes inside a 1.7-meter-long (5.6-foot-long) tusk, researchers recreated the life history of one Arctic woolly mammoth that lived more than 17,000 years ago,…
An international research team has retraced the astonishing lifetime journey of an Arctic woolly mammoth, which covered enough of the Alaska landscape during its 28…
Elephants and their forebears were pushed into wipeout by waves of extreme global environmental change, rather than overhunting by early humans, according to new research….
Researchers trace the age of a rib fragment of the Mount Holly mammoth. Woolly mammoths may have walked the landscape at the same time as…
An international team led by researchers at the Centre for Palaeogenetics in Stockholm has sequenced DNA recovered from mammoth remains that are up to 1.2…