Overview
- A Current Biology paper published July 30, 2026 analyzed genomes from 521 woolly mammoth specimens found across Europe, Asia and North America.
- The study found dispersed or natural mammoth remains were about 66 percent male while concentrated bone deposits associated with human activity were about 70 percent female.
- Archaeological signs at many concentrated sites include embedded stone projectile points, cut marks, patterned bone fracturing and a lack of carnivore gnawing, which together support human involvement in forming the piles.
- Authors propose several non‑exclusive explanations for the female bias — hunters preferring smaller females, female herds moving in predictable routes that made encounters more likely, or recurrent scavenging — and they stress these remain testable hypotheses.
- The project also reported the first known case of X0/XX chromosomal mosaicism in an extinct species from Wrangel Island and underscores how large‑scale paleogenomics can change our view of Paleolithic subsistence, site use and proboscidean behavior.