Prelims: Current events of national and international importance
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
