OREANDA-NEWS An international team of scientists from Russia, Germany and the USA has discovered DNA of ancient extinct megafauna, including mammoths and woolly rhinoceros, in the lakes of Siberia. The results of the study are published in the journal eLife.

The researchers analyzed cores (rock samples) extracted in 2019 from the sediments of two Arctic thermokarst lakes of the Yamal Peninsula in Western Siberia, which date back to the last few centuries. It turned out that they contain the DNA of mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses — species of ancient megafauna that became extinct several thousand years ago.

The discrepancy between the age of sediments and the time of existence of mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses is explained by the melting of permafrost. DNA from ancient animals can enter lakes along with meltwater, which can significantly affect paleoecological records.

The results of the study show that previous reports of the discovery of mammoth DNA in relatively young sediments may indicate not a later date of extinction of these animals, but contamination of the layers with genetic material released from the permafrost.