The oldest animal DNA ever recovered reveals mammoths’ evolution
A hybrid of woolly mammoths and a previously unknown species may have roamed North America
![illustration of steppe mammoths](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/021621_eg_mammoth_feat.jpg?fit=1030%2C580&ssl=1)
An ancient lineage of steppe mammoths (illustrated) led to woolly mammoths that roamed the Arctic. Million-year-old mammoth DNA suggests that another previously unknown lineage mixed with woolly mammoths and gave rise to the Columbian mammoths that spanned North America.
Beth Zaiken/Centre for Palaeogenetics