Scientists Find 1st Extinct Mammoth With X0/XX Mosaicism in 521-Genome Study
Updated
Updated · IFLScience · Jul 30
Scientists Find 1st Extinct Mammoth With X0/XX Mosaicism in 521-Genome Study
3 articles · Updated · IFLScience · Jul 30
Summary
A Wrangel Island woolly mammoth carried X0/XX mosaicism, marking the first documented sex-chromosome combination of its kind in an extinct species, researchers reported in Current Biology.
Ancient DNA from 521 mammoths—448 newly sequenced—revealed the anomaly, which researchers said only became detectable with improved reference genomes and newer ancient-DNA methods.
The same dataset also showed a sharp sex split in deaths: naturally deposited remains were 66% male, while mammoth butchering sites dated 30,000 to 20,000 years ago were 70% female.
That pattern suggests Ice Age humans selectively hunted female mammoths, likely because female-led herds moved in more predictable groups, offering a broader window into mammoth behavior as well as genetics.