High-quality woolly rhino genome recovered from tissue in ancient wolf pup’s stomach

Researchers produced a high-quality genome sequence of a woolly rhinoceros from a piece of partially digested hide recovered from the stomach of an ancient wolf pup preserved in northeast Siberian permafrost; both animals are some 14,400 years old, the team reported in Genome Biology and Evolution.

The hide yielded a genome more complete than a prior sequence. The researchers compared it with genomes from two older rhino specimens, dated to about 18,000 and 49,000 years, and found no signs of genetic decline or inbreeding as the species approached extinction. Extracting and sequencing DNA from the tough, permafrost-preserved sample required months of careful sampling and work to avoid contamination from the wolf.

The authors argue that early humans were unlikely to have been the main driver of the woolly rhino’s disappearance, noting people had lived in the region long before the extinction, human density was low and there is little evidence of hunting. J. Camilo Chacón-Duque said the team "put our bets on a climate-related event," while another scientist, Laura Epp, agreed climate change was most likely but said it might not have been warming specifically. The exact environmental mechanism remains uncertain, and the researchers note that only a few hundred years may have been enough to erase the species.

Key Topics

Science, Woolly Rhinoceros, Ancient Wolf Pup, Northeast Siberia, Permafrost, Ancient Dna