Tyler Murchie and colleagues analyzed permafrost ancient DNA from four Yukon Klondike sites in a 2021 Nature Communications study. Caballine horse DNA persisted 3,300+ years past Alaska's last macrofossil, with one sample at ~9,700 years BP. The authors proposed a cryptic 'ghost range' population.
2021 Yukon study detects horse DNA thousands of years post-extinction
Key facts
- Tyler Murchie and colleagues published 2021 study in Nature Communications titled 'Collapse of the Mammoth Steppe in Central Yukon'
- Researchers examined sedimentary ancient DNA preserved in permafrost from four sites in the Klondike region of West Central Yukon
- Coverage spans approximately 30,000 to 4,000 calibrated years before present
- Results revealed lingering caballine horse DNA at multiple sites thousands of years after horses supposedly disappeared
- Earlier result identified North American horse DNA in permafrost dating to approximately 9,700 calibrated years ago (~7,750 BC), about 3,300 years later than last macrofossil evidence from Alaska
- Authors described this discrepancy as evidence for a possible 'ghost range' — a cryptic population surviving beyond the fossil record
Sources
Collapse of the mammoth-steppe in central Yukon as ...researchgate.net
Murchie et al. (2021a) suggested woolly mammoths and horses survived into the Holocene in Yukon, but these records only exist in sedaDNA data, and to date no ...
Collapse of the Mammoth-steppe in Central Yukon as ...adna.mcmaster.ca
Mammoth-steppe in Central Yukon. Authors: Tyler J. Murchie, region of Yukon, Canada. the disappearance of the mammoth-steppe (steppe-tundra) ...
Collapse of the mammoth-steppe in central Yukon as ...madbarn.com
Collapse of the mammoth-steppe in central Yukon as revealed by ancient environmental DNA. Murchie, TJ; ·; Monteath, AJ; ·; Mahony, ME; ·; Long, ...
Tyler James Murchiescholar.google.com
Collapse of the mammoth-steppe in central Yukon as revealed by ancient environmental DNA TJ Murchie, targeted capture of ancient environmental DNA … collapse ...
Ancient DNA suggests woolly mammoths roamed the Earth ...phys.org
Ancient DNA suggests woolly mammoths roamed the Earth more recently than previously thought by Tyler J. Murchie,
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