DNA extracted from preserved Arctic ground squirrel droppings has uncovered details of a diverse ice-age ecosystem in the Yukon region dating back hundreds of thousands of years.
Researchers examined faeces from 13 burrows frozen in permafrost in central Yukon, Canada. The samples, dated between 30,000 and 700,000 years old, contained genetic material from microbes, plants, insects and larger animals including woolly mammoths, horses, steppe bison and grey wolves.Tyler Murchie of the Hakai Institute led the team that reconstructed mitochondrial genomes from several species. These included 12 ground squirrels, three horses, two bison and one hare, along with six woolly mammoth genomes slated for separate publication.The findings highlight how the rodents, which are omnivorous scavengers, acted as natural archivists by collecting and preserving a broad range of biological material in their burrows. The study was published in Nature Communications.