Hear’s a breakdown of the key facts from the provided text:
* Woolly Rhino Extinction: A new study suggests climate warming, rather than human hunting, was the primary cause of the woolly rhino’s extinction.
* Timeline: Woolly rhinos thrived in northern Siberia until at least 14,400 years ago, and their extinction happened rapidly after that.
* Evidence: Researchers analyzed the genome of a woolly rhino found inside a wolf that had eaten it. This is a notable achievement in DNA recovery.
* Climate Connection: The extinction coincides with the Bølling-Allerød interstadial, a period of rapid warming in the Northern Hemisphere around 14,700 to 12,900 years ago. This warming likely impacted the rhino’s food sources.
* Researchers: The study was led by Sólveig Guðjónsdóttir (Stockholm University) and co-authored by Love Dalén (Center for Palaeogenetics in Sweden).
* Previous Research: This study builds upon earlier work by the same research team.
* Pleistocene Epoch: The extinction occurred towards the end of the last ice age (Pleistocene epoch).
