DNA suggests North American mammoth species interbred: Supposedly separate types may really have been one

Link: DNA suggests North American mammoth species interbred: Supposedly separate types may really have been one

Here, here on the palaeogenetics articles in the news lately!

LAS VEGAS — The two major species of North American mammoth may actually have been one. DNA analysis of the Ice Age beasts’ remains suggests that the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) interbred with what has been considered a separate, more southerly species — the Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi).

Although separate animal species do interbreed now and then, mammoth mixing may have been more than an occasional fluke. Two Columbian specimens turn out to carry woollylike DNA inherited from their mothers, said Ross MacPhee of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, who presented the findings November 3 at a meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.

CT Scans of Baby Mammoths Reveal Ice Age Mystery

Link: CT Scans of Baby Mammoths Reveal Ice Age Mystery

LAS VEGAS—Computed tomography (CT) scans of two extraordinarily well-preserved baby woolly mammoths from Siberia have yielded startling new insights into these iconic Ice Age beasts. Previously examinations of the external features of the mammoths suggested that the two creatures were quite similar, exhibiting the same developmental stage and similar age at death. But the new full-body scans—the first ever obtained for largely intact mammoths—tell a different story. Researchers unveiled the new findings on November 5 at the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.