DNA discovery reveals mammoths lived thousands of years longer than believed

By Tom Campbell via SWNS

Woolly mammoths survived for thousands of years longer than originally thought, scientists have found.

A study of soil has revealed that the shaggy beasts were still around in northern Canada just 5,000 years ago.

Although an isolated colony survived on an island off Russia until 4,000 years ago it was believed apart from that, the species became extinct 10,000 years ago.

Soil samples taken from the Yukon's permafrost in Northern Canada have revealed that many species' extinction date may need to be revised, according to a new study.

Mammoths and other large animals like saber-toothed cats are thought to have been wiped out when the Pleistocene period came to an end, more than 10,000 years ago.

Now researchers in Canada have found these iconic beasts may have survived for much longer after recreating their natural habitat from scratch.

This could shed light on the woolly mammoths' demise and casts doubt over the commonly held idea they were hunted to extinction by humans.

Lead author Dr. Hendrik Poinar at McMaster University said: “The rich data provides a unique window into the population dynamics of mega-fauna and nuances the discussion around their extinction through more subtle reconstructions of past ecosystems."

Tiny soil samples containing billions of microscopic pieces of animal and plant DNA were collected from the Klondike region of central Yukon.

The researchers then recreated ancient ecosystems using a specially developed tool known as DNA capture-enrichment technology.

They focused on the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, an unstable climatic period 11,000 to 14,000 years ago, when a number of large species such as mammoths, mastodons and saber-toothed cats disappeared.

While mammoths and North American horses were already in steep decline before this period, they did not immediately disappear due to human overhunting as previously believed, the researchers found.

On the contrary, DNA suggests both species survived until around 5,000 years ago - or the period which we are living in today, which is known as the mid-Holocene and began around 11,000 years ago.

Woolly mammoths are thought to have been roughly the same size as today's African elephants.

Their tusks could grow to between 10 and 13 feet in length and are worth around £300 per pound today, as, unlike elephants, mammoth ivory is legal.

In previous studies, the researchers found evidence woolly mammoths and the North American horse had roamed the Yukon approximately 9,700 years ago.

Now sharper tools and analysis have pushed forward the date even closer to contemporary time.

Co-author Dr. Tyler Murchie said: "Now that we have these technologies, we realize how much life-history information is stored in permafrost.

"The amount of genetic data in permafrost is quite enormous and really allows for a scale of the ecosystem and evolutionary reconstruction that is unparalleled with other methods to date.”

But time is running out for collecting more permafrost samples, which could disappear if Arctic temperatures rise, the researchers warn.

Their findings could also retrace the origins of certain species whose descendants are alive and kicking today.

Co-author Dr. Ross MacPhee said: "Although mammoths are gone forever, horses are not.

"The horse that lived in the Yukon 5,000 years ago is directly related to the horse species we have today, Equus caballus.

"Biologically, this makes the horse a native North American mammal, and it should be treated as such.”

The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.