Woolly Rhino Genome from Wolf Stomach Shows Climate Extinction

Scientists have sequenced the complete genome of a woolly rhinoceros that lived about 14,400 years ago in northern Siberia, using a small fragment of preserved tissue discovered in the stomach of an ancient wolf pup. The analysis, detailed in a study published this week in Genome Biology and Evolution, indicates that the species maintained genetic health and stable population levels right up until its sudden extinction around 14,000 years ago, likely triggered by rapid climate warming rather than inbreeding or human activity.

The tissue sample came from one of two wolf pups, known as the Tumat Puppies, unearthed from permafrost near the village of Tumat in northeastern Siberia. The first pup was found in 2011, and the second in 2015. Both died around 14,400 years ago, probably after their mother fed them the rhinoceros meat, just before a den collapse entombed them in the frozen ground. During a dissection of one pup's stomach contents, researchers identified a mummified piece of woolly rhinoceros flesh, complete with attached yellowish fur. "It looked pretty much like a piece of jerky with a bit of fluff," said Edana Lord, an evolutionary genomicist at Stockholm University who...