Woolly Mammoth

Why in News?

The world’s oldest RNA was found in a 40,000-year-old woolly mammoth recently.

• Yuka Mammoth - In 2010, the mummy of a juvenile mammoth was discovered on Siberia’s Arctic coast.
• The animal, nicknamed “Yuka” after the nearby village of Yukagir, had been frozen for nearly 40,000 years.
• The permafrost preserved its carcass in exquisite detail, with patches of reddish fur, a twisted trunk, and even its brain intact.
• Recent Scientific Interest -Yuka’s tissues preserve traces of ribonucleic acid (RNA), genetic molecules that are crucial to life but usually deteriorate shortly after death.
• These bits of genetic material have helped construct the species’ genome, revealing how closely mammoths are related to living elephants.
• Scientists are exploring “de-extinction” using gene-editing (e.g., CRISPR) to introduce mammoth traits into Asian elephants

Woolly Mammoth

• Scientific Name - Mammuthus primigenius
• The woolly mammoth was a large, elephant-like mammal that lived during the Ice Age (Pleistocene epoch) and went extinct about 4,000 years ago.
• Distribution - Lived across Northern Eurasia and North America.
• Habitat - Adapted to extremely cold, tundra-like environments.
• Physical Features
  • Thick shaggy fur and dense undercoat
  • Curved long tusks
  • Small ears to reduce heat loss
  • A hump of fat on the back for insulation and energy storage
• Diet – Herbivore, fed on grasses, sedges, shrubs, and herbs and had flat teeth for grinding tough vegetation
• Adaptations to Cold
  • Layer of fat under skin
  • Reduced extremities exposed to cold
  • Hair-covered body
• Extinction
• • Factors believed to have caused extinction:
  • Climate change after the Ice Age
  • Human hunting
  • Habitat loss
  • Small isolated populations suffered from inbreeding

Reference

National Geographic | World’s oldest RNA