Study shows population on Arctic island was stable until sudden demise, countering theory of ‘genomic meltdown’
The last woolly mammoths on Earth took their final stand on a remote Arctic island about 4,000 years ago, but the question of what sealed their fate has remained a mystery. Now a genetic analysis suggests that a freak event such as an extreme storm or a plague was to blame.
The findings counter a previous theory that harmful genetic mutations caused by inbreeding led to a “genomic meltdown” in the isolated population. The latest analysis confirms that although the group had low genetic diversity, a stable population of a few hundred mammoths had occupied the island for thousands of years before suddenly vanishing.
About Author
More Stories
Amazon’s satellite launch designed to compete with Musk’s Starlink cancelled
As a geneticist, I will not mourn 23andMe and its jumble of useless health information | Adam Rutherford
Tesla stops taking orders in China for two models imported from US