A Freeze-Dried Woolly Mammoth Yields 52,000-Year-Old Chromosomes

Mammoths share remarkable genetic similarities with contemporary elephants — with some notable differences.

By Paul Smaglik
Jul 11, 2024 3:01 PM
Frozen Mammoth
Photo of a mammoth foot in a permafrost environment (Credit: Love Dalen)

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DNA extracted from a woolly mammoth excavated in 2018 was so well preserved that scientists have, for the first time, constructed a three-dimensional genome from ancient genetic material.

That information, from an animal that died in Siberia about 52,000 years ago, allows better comparisons between extinct mammoths and contemporary elephants, according to a report in Cell.

Freeze-Dried Woolly Mammoth

A team of 56 scientists from four organizations collaborated to find the fossil, excavate it, then analyze what co-author Erez Lieberman Aiden described as “ancient beef jerky,” during a virtual news conference.

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