10,000-year-old Wrangel Island woolly mammoths were inbred but not genetically doomed to extinction.
A study published in Cell reveals that the last surviving woolly mammoths, isolated on Wrangel Island 10,000 years ago, were inbred but not doomed to extinction due to genetic reasons. Researchers discovered that the mammoths' genomes showed signs of inbreeding and low genetic diversity, but not to the extent that it can explain their ultimate and mysterious extinction. The findings indicate that the animals were not doomed to go extinct for genetic reasons and that if a mysterious event had not wiped them off the planet, they would still exist today.
June 27, 2024
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