Ancient Wolf Pup Stomach Reveals DNA from Woolly Rhino, Offering Clues to Ice Age Extinction
About 14,400 years ago, a young wolf pup in northeastern Siberia ate its final meal — meat from a woolly rhinoceros — before dying on the unforgiving Ice Age tundra. Now, scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery by extracting DNA from the undigested rhino meat found in the pup’s stomach, preserved for millennia in permafrost near the village of Tumat.
The recovered DNA enabled researchers to reconstruct the rhino’s genome, offering rare insight into the evolutionary history and extinction of the woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis). The study, published on Wednesday in Genome Biology and Evolution, reveals that the species remained genetically healthy until shortly before its disappearance around 14,000 years ago.
“This research shows that it is possible to recover a high-quality genome from poorly preserved material dating to a crucial time in the life of a species,” said Solveig Gudjonsdottir, the study’s lead author and an evolutionary geneticist. Love Dalén, co-senior author and professor at the Centre for Palaeogenetics in Stockholm, called the achievement “very cool” and an important advance for palaeogenetics.
Genetic Health Before a Rapid Extinction
The team compared the newly sequenced genome with those of two older woolly rhinoceroses — one that lived around 18,000 years ago and another roughly 49,000 years ago. The comparisons revealed that the species showed no genetic signs of decline, such as reduced diversity or inbreeding, in the tens of thousands of years before extinction.
“The main finding is that we see no change in genetic diversity and inbreeding levels through the last several tens of thousands of years leading up to the woolly rhino’s extinction,” Dalén said. “Whatever caused the extinction, it was rapid.”
The researchers believe that a sudden shift in climate, rather than gradual human pressure, was the main cause. As the Ice Age ended, warming temperatures destroyed the cold, dry steppe-tundra habitats on which the animals depended.
“Humans had already been present in the region for around 15,000 years without causing a population decline,” Dalén explained. “The climate warming about 14,000 years ago is a more likely explanation.” However, Gudjonsdottir noted that human hunting “cannot be entirely ruled out,” though archaeological evidence of widespread hunting is limited.
The Woolly Rhinoceros and Its Place in Ice Age Ecology
The woolly rhinoceros was one of the Ice Age’s most iconic megafauna. Standing up to two metres tall and covered in dense, shaggy fur, it sported two horns, a large shoulder hump, and a stocky body suited to grazing on the tough grasses of the frozen steppes. It was considerably larger than its closest living relative, the Sumatran rhinoceros.
First appearing in the fossil record about 600,000 years ago, the woolly rhino shared its habitat with other Ice Age giants such as mammoths, mastodons, and saber-toothed cats — species that also vanished as global climates warmed.
A Glimpse into Life and Death in the Ice Age
The wolf pup’s remains, along with another mummified pup found nearby, were discovered in remarkable condition during the 2010s. Analysis of the stomach contents suggested that the young wolves were still nursing, meaning that the rhino meat was likely provided by an adult wolf — either scavenged or hunted.
“The puppy must have died shortly after eating that meal, since the meat was still undigested,” Gudjonsdottir said.
The discovery not only sheds light on predator-prey dynamics at the end of the Ice Age but also demonstrates how permafrost-preserved remains continue to unlock genetic and ecological secrets from a lost world.
with inputs from Reuters