A team of German paleontologists, evolutionists and geologists isolated the mitochondrial genome of the woolly rhino for the first time. This was done thanks to the discovery of coprolites (petrified feces) of ancient hyenas in caves in Germany. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Biology Letters.
According to previous research, there were two species of woolly rhino: Siberian and European. The first lived in Eurasia, the second in Europe. Eurasian rhinos disappeared about 14 thousand years ago, but the time of extinction of their European relatives is still unknown.
The scientific team examined coprolites from the Bockstein Lohe and Holenstein Staedel caves in the laboratory and isolated DNA from a hyena and at least one woolly rhino from each sample.
Despite severe degradation of the genetic material, scientists obtained a mitochondrial genome. This finding allowed them to pinpoint when woolly rhinos split from the common ancestor into known species. According to the findings of paleontologists, the species paths of Siberian and European rhinos diverged about 45 thousand years ago.
Anthropologists before to create There are traces of ancient people living alongside elephants and rhinos in Germany.