Extinct Species, features and articles | Educational Science

Nov 7, 2014

In photos: Mummified woolly mammoth discovered

About four years ago, the mummified carcass of a 39,000-year-old woolly mammoth was discovered in permafrost on the Laptev Sea coast near Yukagir, Russia. The animal, nicknamed Yuka, had an unusually well-preserved brain. It is the first, and, so far the only case of a preserved mammoth brain that has...

Nov 7, 2014

Woolly Mammoth Mummy Yields Well-Preserved Brain

The mummified brain of a well-preserved woolly mammoth found in the Siberian permafrost is the only mostly intact mammoth brain known to science, which has been described in a new study. The mummified carcass of the 39,000-year-old woolly mammoth, which included the brain with folds and blood vessels visible, was...

Nov 16, 2014

Photos: A 40,000-year-old mammoth autopsy

In May 2013, scientists from the Siberian Northeastern Federal University heard that mammoth tusks were sticking out of the permafrost on Maly Lyakhovsky Island in nothern Siberia. Researchers crossed miles of ice to see for themselves, and soon found the tusks belonged to a mammoth that had been exceptionally preserved...

Nov 16, 2014

Can the Long-Extinct Woolly Mammoth Be Cloned?

A woolly mammoth carcass recently unearthed in Siberia could be the best hope yet for scientists aiming to clone the massive, long-extinct beast. The mammoth specimen, which was discovered in 2013 in a remote part of Siberia, oozed a deep red liquid when it was first discovered. Scientists have now...

Jul 2, 2015

Woolly Mammoth Clones Closer Than Ever, Thanks to Genome Sequencing

Scientists are one step closer to bringing a woolly mammoth back to life. A new analysis of the woolly mammoth genome has revealed several adaptations that allowed the furry beasts to thrive in the subzero temperatures of the last ice age, including a metabolism that allowed them to pack on...

Jul 23, 2015

Mighty Mammoths Fell Prey to Rapidly Warming Earth

The mighty megafauna of the last ice age, including the wooly mammoths, short-faced bears and cave lions, largely went extinct because of rapid climate-warming events, a new study finds. During the unstable climate of the Late Pleistocene, about 60,000 to 12,000 years ago, abrupt climate spikes, called interstadials, increased temperatures...

Oct 9, 2015

Ice Age Mammoth Bones Discovered on Michigan Farm

Two Michigan farmers made an unexpected discovery in a wheat field last week: the ice-age bones of a mammoth that was likely slaughtered by ancient humans. An excavation and analysis of the bones suggest they come from an adult male mammoth that had an unlucky end. We think that humans...

Oct 9, 2015

Photos: Mammoth Bones Unearthed from Michigan Farm

A Michigan farmer unexpectedly discovered mammoth bones on his property, buried in the soil beneath a wheat field. He gave paleontologists at the University of Michigan a day to excavate the bones, and their fast work uncovered about 20 percent of the beast's bones. The remains are those of an...

Oct 26, 2015

Ancient Super-Predators Could Take Down Young Mammoths

Nearly a million years ago, a cave hyena could have taken down a 5-year-old mastodon weighing more than a ton. And in packs, the predators may have been equipped to demolish a 9-year-old mastodon weighing a hefty 2 tons. That's according to new computer models that can calculate how big...

Nov 12, 2015

North American Mammoths Actually Evolved in Eurasia

The famous Columbian mammoth — an 11-ton creature known for traversing North America during the last ice age — might actually be the same species as the Eurasian steppe mammoth, a new study finds. The discovery suggests that the first mammoth to enter North America was the Eurasian steppe mammoth,...

Jan 15, 2016

Butchered Mammoth Suggests Humans Lived in Siberia 45,000 Years Ago

The slashed and punctured bones of a woolly mammoth suggest that humans lived in the far northern reaches of Siberia earlier than scientists had previously thought, a new study finds. Before the surprising discovery, researchers thought that humans lived in the freezing Siberian Arctic no earlier than about 30,000 to...

Jan 27, 2016

Ice-Age Mammoth Bones Found Under Oregon Football Field

Oregon State University might want to consider changing its mascot after a monumental find yesterday (Jan. 25): The discovery of bones belonging to an ice-age mammoth within throwing distance of the school's football field. A construction crew working on an expansion and renovation of the OSU Beavers' Valley Football Center...

Mar 29, 2016

Giant Mammoth Skull Discovered by Bulldozer Operator

A bulldozer operator at a sand pit in northwestern Oklahoma got quite a surprise this month when he spotted a huge skull that belonged to a Columbian mammoth. These giants were plentiful across the plains of Oklahoma during the Pleistocene epoch, which lasted from about 1.8 million to 11,700 years...

Oct 27, 2016

Facts About Woolly Mammoths

Woolly mammoths were closely related to today's Asian elephants. They looked a lot like their modern cousins, except for one major difference. They were covered in a thick coat of brown hair to keep them warm in their home on the frigid Arctic plains. They even had fur-lined ears. Their...

Mar 2, 2017

DNA Mutations May Have Doomed the Woolly Mammoth

By the end of the ice age, the last remaining woolly mammoths had acquired so many genetic mutations that their numbers were practically guaranteed to spiral toward extinction, a new study has revealed. Mammoths were once among the most common large herbivores that roamed across North America, Siberia and Beringia,...