World’s oldest genome sequenced
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Samples from mammoth remains thought to be 1.2 million years old have yielded the oldest full genome known to date. The finding provides new insights into how mammoths evolved
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Minute amounts of DNA, degraded into tiny fragments, extracted from molars of three ancient mammoths buried in Siberian permafrost
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Krestovka mammoth: 1.2m year-old specimen found to belong to previously unknown genetic lineage
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10cm 4 inches

Sample sites
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Pacific
Arctic
CANADA
RUSSIA
Atlantic
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Artist’s concept of steppe mammoths
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NEW REVELATIONS
DNA analyses show two different genetic lineages of mammoth in Siberia during Early Pleistocene epoch. Previous studies indicated existence of Steppe mammoth only

Study suggests Columbian mammoth – which inhabited North America during last ice age – was hybrid between Woolly mammoth and Krestovka mammoth 

Southern mammoth (Mammuthus meridionalis)
Million years ago (Ma)

Steppe mammoth (M. trogontherii)

Krestovka mammoth

Woolly mammoth (M. primigenius)

Columbian mammoth (M. columbi)

1.5 Ma 1.0 Ma 0.5 Ma 0
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Sources: Nature, Stockholm Centre for Palaeogenetics, Stockholm University
Illustration: Beth Zaiken/Centre for Palaeogenetics © GRAPHIC NEWS

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