Frozen squirrel scat preserves ancient DNA from hundreds of species
A complex ecosystem of woolly mammoths, bison, horses and big cats has been elucidated by studying the faeces of small rodents that probably ate the bigger animals
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4 headlinesA Surprising Find in Ancient Squirrel Poop: Woolly Mammoth Meat
In a new study, fossilized droppings suggested that ancient ground squirrels ate the meat of much larger animals, including mammoths, bison and saber-toothed cats.
Ancient ground squirrel droppings reveal Arctic's rich evolutionary history
Ground squirrel droppings, preserved for millennia in the Yukon's deep permafrost, have yielded an enormous amount of environmental DNA from dozens of species of plants, insects, microbes and large mammals, offering detailed genetic information about an environment that no longer exists. It is a...
To reconstruct an ancient ecosystem, the proof is in the squirrel poop
‘I’ve been describing them as acting a bit like tiny Arctic pack rats. ’ The post To reconstruct an ancient ecosystem, the proof is in the squirrel poop appeared first on Popular Science .