An illustration of the ancient lineage of steppe mammoths, which led to the wooly mammoths that roamed the Arctic (Credit: Beth Zaiken/Center For Palaeogenetics)
A team of Swedish scientists has successfully extracted and reconstructed the world s oldest DNA from the tooth of a Siberian mammoth, which roamed Earth over a million years ago. Also known as deoxyribonucleic acid, the all-important molecule which contains the genetic instructions for the development and function of living things. provides new insights into the evolution of the ancient Ice Age giants. Prior to this, the oldest DNA sequenced came from the bone of a horse that trotted around Canada about 700,000 years ago.