Scientists sequence a woolly rhino genome from a 14,400-year-old wolf’s stomach

Summary

That came as a surprise, since woolly rhinos disappear from the fossil record about 400 years later. Already, the species was making its last stand in northeastern Siberia; its range had been shrinking eastward since around 35,000 years ago. But apparently, on the cusp of extinction, the species was still doing pretty well in northeastern Siberia (except for this particular rhino, who got eaten by a wolf after what one can only assume was a bad day). This is the piece of woolly rhino meat in question, extracted from the stomach of a wolf puppy who lived near the end of the last Ice Age. Guðjónsdóttir et al. 2026 This is the piece of woolly rhino meat in question, extracted from the stomach of a wolf puppy who lived near the end of the last Ice Age. Guðjónsdóttir et al. 2026 Two researchers pose next to the spot where the Tumat wolf puppy and her sister were found in the Siberian permafrost. Guðjónsdóttir et al. 2026 Two researchers pose next to the spot where the Tumat wolf puppy and her sister were found in the Siberian permafrost. Guðjónsdóttir et al. 2026 Woolly rhino horn, with study coauthor Love Dalén for scale. Guðjónsdóttir et al. 2026 Woolly rhino horn, with study coauthor Love Dalén for scale. Guðjónsdóttir et al. 2026 Two researchers pose next to the spot where the Tumat wolf puppy and her sister were found in the Siberian permafrost. Guðjónsdóttir et al. 2026 Woolly rhino horn, with study coauthor Love Dalén for scale. Guðjónsdóttir et al. 2026 Woolly rhino population was small but healthy So what counts as a stable population? In the genome of a 49,000-year-old woolly rhino from a few hundred miles east in Rakvachan, Siberia, Guðjónsdóttir and her colleagues found clues about the species’ even more ancient history. Big changes in population size, among other events, can leave traces in the genome, and the researchers used those to estimate that between 114,000 and 63,000 years ago, the woolly rhino population dropped sharply, from about 15,600 to about ...