Mammoth: Adapting to the cold

Everyone loves a Mammoth. Closely related to modern elephants, Mammoths lived during the Pleistocene Era (about 12,000 years ago). Experts have found evidence that a small population of mammoths lived until 4000-years ago in Wrangel Island, Russia, located on the Arctic Ocean.

Here is a short video on mammoth biology

Can you guess the weight and height of the mammoth?

Lest your imagination runs away with you, the mammoth was no bigger than a modern African elephant. Standing about 9 feet (2.7 meters ) to 11 feet (3.3 meters) tall and weighing around 6 tons, the mammoths were not a giant of their times. Nor was their ‘wool’ woolly. The wool was more shaggy.

Mammoths have a long relationship with human beings. More amazing facts about mammoths can be found here.

Due to global warming, the permafrost in the Arctic is melting. Finding mammoth bones and bodies are becoming easier. In 2012, Zhenya, a well-preserved 16-year-old woolly mammoth that had died 30,000 years ago was discovered. On the body of the woolly mammoth, scientists found lumps on the back. Scientists hypothesized that the mammoth stored fat that helped it to survive winter and the cold conditions.

A recent study by scientists shows that the hypothesis could be correct. The scientists conducted an ingenious series of experiments to discover the function. First, they procured some fur from Russian mammoths. Then, they extracted the DNA and sequenced the partial genome. To ensure that they were not being indeed sequencing a mammoth fur, scientists compared the mammoth DNA with the DNA of Asian elephants. During this match-making session, the scientists located one gene that was different from the Asian elephants.

Following up on the gene, they tried to see where in the animal kingdom such a gene had been reported and what could its function be? Like a genetic bingo, they discovered the gene was also found in mice and humans! And the genes functioned in cold conditions, regulated hair growth, and was connected with fat biology.

Going a step further, they studied lab mice which had the genes turned off. Such mice preferred to live in cold conditions. The behavior was regulated by a protein the gene was coded for. Amazing that a large creature’s behavior is regulated by a biological molecule. Life is totally fascinating!