Bones of mammoths butchered for their ivory tusks 25,000 years ago unearthed by archaeologists
said Thursday
in a news statement.
Researchers found mammoth bones in two areas, in Langmannersdorf an der Perschling, Lower Austria, located between St. Pölten and Tulln. Both zones, discovered about 50 feet apart, were densely packed with bones.
In one area, researchers found evidence that the mammoths were butchered with stone tools. The bones were left in several layers.
Remains of three mammoths were discovered in the second area, their tusks dismembered and complete. The discovery of the tusks indicated that the area was used for ivory processing, researchers said. The ivory from the tusks likely would have been turned into spearheads, researchers said.
The find leads to a greater understanding of how humans and mammoths lived in the valley before the peak of the last Ice Age, according to senior researcher Marc Händel. The discoveries suggest humans living during this time period had a thorough understanding of mammoth habits and used this knowledge specifically for their hunting expeditions.
"The new discoveries provide valuable insights into the hunting and lifestyles of people of this period," Händel said in the news release.
Humans hunted mammoths
25,000 to 40,000 years ago, but researchers have very little knowledge of how they brought down the enormous beasts. Millions of mammoths roamed the earth before an onslaught of Ice Ages and human interactions led to their extinction about 10,000 years ago.
Mammoth remains have been uncovered in the United States, with researchers unearthing more than
20 bones in North Dakota
last year after miners found a 7-foot-tusk.
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USA Today
2 days ago
- USA Today
Dire wolf meet-up: Watch Colossal's female wolf frolic with older brothers
Colossal Biosciences created three dire wolves using genetic engineering. Now that the wolves have gotten older – the two males are approaching one year old – they are being assimilated into a pack. Those cute dire wolves are forming a pack. If you remember, Colossal Biosciences, the company seeking to bring back the woolly mammoth, revealed in April 2025 it had successfully birthed a trio of dire wolf puppies. Using dire wolf DNA extracted from fossils – yes, dire wolves aren't just the stuff of "Game of Thrones" fiction, they existed tens of thousands of years ago – the Colossal researchers created dire wolf genomes. They used those as a guide to editing a gray wolf genome to express dire wolf traits. The resultant fertilized dire wolf eggs were implanted into and born by surrogate dog mothers, resulting in the successful resurrection of an Ice Age-era species. Two male dire wolves, Romulus and Remus, born in October 2024, are approaching their first birthday – each weighed more than 90 pounds at six months old, significantly larger than standard gray wolves, the Dallas, Texas-based biotech company says – while a female, Khaleesi (named after the "Game of Thrones" character), is about six months old. Home delivery: A meteorite crashes into a Georgia home. Turns out it's older than Earth. 'She's completely been accepted into the pack': All in the dire wolf family Recently, the Colossal team thought it was time to introduce the brothers to their sister. "We're working through the socialization and the introduction of Khaleesi into the pack," Colossal CEO and co-founder Ben Lamm told USA TODAY. "They're starting to behave more and more like wolves," he said. "We don't want them to be lap dogs." You can see Khaleesi come into a grassy, fenced six-acre section of Colossal's 2,000-acre ecological preserve where she first gets to meet Romulus, in a video posted Aug. 12 on Colossal's YouTube channel. "At first, she was a little like, 'Whoa, he's right there," said Paige McNickle, manager of animal husbandry at Colossal and manager of the team that takes care of the dire wolves. The older male wolf, Romulus, came up to Khaleesi, and they smelled each other and then she took off on a run and he followed her. "They were playing with each other. Their ears were up the entire time, which is a good, happy, calm, wolf behavior that we were hoping to see," McNickle said. After a bit, Romulus is ushered away and Remus is brought into the area. "They were both excited. Everybody was so good in play, but Remus is almost more gentle than Romulus," McNickle said. "Romulus is just a little bit bigger, and Remus did really good. We saw lots of play behaviors," she said. "They kept their ears up, they wagged their tails. They followed each other around. They all got to explore the pool together. When they got hot, they went right over and cooled themselves off, especially Khaleesi." The trio then got to play together, although in coming days, she will get extended time with one brother on one day and another on the next day, McNickle said. The play area has a collection of logs, which Khaleesi is small enough to fit under, where she occasionally played hide and seek from her larger brothers. "We want to make sure that … (when) they're playing, they can separate, they can socialize, they can smell each other, but then, you know, if Khaleesi wants to get away – or Romulus or Remus want to get away – we need to make sure that we give them that comfort so they don't feel overwhelmed or feel pressured," Lamm said. "But the great news about it is she's completely been accepted into the pack." Leader of the dire wolf pack That pack will likely be growing. Colossal is planning to engineer two to four more dire wolves over the next year, Lamm said. Rather than let these wolves breed, the researchers want future pups from "a couple different cell lines," he said. "We will actually get more genetic diversity." And wolves of different ages, as they are adopted in the pack, will grow up "in some kind of social hierarchy." As of now, Remus, the smaller of the male wolves, appears to be emerging as the leader, having exhibited Alpha male characteristics. When the dire wolves were first introduced to the world, Remus "kind of became the star," Lamm said. "Remus really has this take-charge attitude. … Romulus has always been bigger and I just thought, natural selection, the biggest and strongest." Recently, Romulus and Remus began receiving larger carcasses for feeding – from rabbits to deer legs and cattle portions, beyond their regular menu of ground meat, meat chunks, and other foods – so they would learn important social skills. Colossal is currently working with Grizzly Systems and Yellowstone National Park's Wolf Project, deploying audiovisual recording devices to understand pack behavior and wolf populations. Artificial intelligence software helps identify "specific wolves in that setting and then begin to understand how we can estimate population size based on how many times we count the same wolf," said Matt James, Colossal's chief animal officer, in another video on the company's YouTube channel. Those devices will eventually be deployed in Colossal's reserve to monitor its growing dire wolf pack. Those tools will make it "so that we can just be observing them in a more passive manner," Lamm said. "This is just the next chapter in their story." Colossal continues other projects amid dire wolf controversy Critics have argued that the pups are not truly dire wolves, but genetically-modified gray wolves. Colossal has countered that their dire wolves share 99.5% of the same genetics as the original dire wolf. Some have also scolded Colossal for tinkering with genetics, but the tech firm insists its work will aid in the conservation and protection of endangered species. Recently, Colossal announced plans to resurrect the long-extinct New Zealand bird species, the moa, at the urging of filmmaker Peter Jackson, who is an investor in Colossal. Colossal first gained attention with its 2021 announced goal of bringing back the woolly mammoth. Earlier this year, the company unveiled its Colossal Woolly Mouse, which was genetically engineered to have characteristics that could eventually be used in creating a next-generation woolly mammoth embryo to be born by a female elephant. In August 2022, the company said it also planned to de-extinct the Australian thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger. Another project: the return of the dodo, which was killed off about 350 years ago. Mike Snider is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can follow him on Threads, Bluesky, X and email him at mikegsnider & @ & @mikesnider & msnider@ What's everyone talking about? Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Bones in Norway Cave Reveal Chilling Fate of Ice Age Animals
For 75,000 years, the remnants of a diverse ecosystem of Ice Age animals have lain hidden in the shelter of Arne Qvam Cave in Norway. Scientists have only just begun to grasp the full scope of its contents, which are the oldest evidence we have describing the diversity of animals that flourished in one of the glacial period's warmer stints. This rare and remarkably extensive archive of ancient Arctic fauna covers a wide spectrum of vertebrates, from small mammals like the collared lemmings (Dicrostonyx torquatus) and voles (Alexandromys oeconomus) that scurried across the tundra, marine and freshwater fish, and more than 20 bird species, to the landscape's largest marine mammals, like whales, walruses, and even a polar bear. Related link: "We have very little evidence of what Arctic life was like in this period because of the lack of preserved remains over 10,000 years old," says evolutionary biologist Sanne Boessenkool of the University of Oslo. This find fills a "significant void in our understanding of biodiversity and the environment during a period of dramatic climate change," Boessenkool and team write in their paper describing the finds. The cave was concealed within a mountain until the 1990s, when a tunnel built for mining exposed the secret chamber. Even then, large excavations were not carried out until 2021 and 2022, when the animal remains emerged from the lower layers of sedimentary rock. The collared lemmings were a particularly exciting find: this species is now extinct in Europe, and until now, the only signs they had ever lived there were from Scandinavia. The remains of freshwater fish suggest there were lakes and rivers in the tundra environment, while bowhead whales and walruses would have required sea ice. This probably wasn't present year-round, however, because the harbour porpoises also found in the cave avoid waters that have frozen over. These animals were living in a period of global cooling. The entire ecosystem seems to have depended on melting glaciers that provided fresh water and exposed the ocean; once the landscape froze over once again, the biodiversity disappeared, suggesting the mix of animals were unable to migrate or adapt to the colder, drier environment. "This highlights how cold adapted species struggle to adapt to major climatic events. This has a direct link to the challenges they are facing in the Arctic today as the climate warms at a rapid pace," lead author and Bournemouth University zooarchaeologist Sam Walker says. "The habitats these animals in the region live in today are much more fractured than 75,000 years ago, so it is even harder for animal populations to move and adapt." While many of these kinds of animals can still be found in the Arctic today, they no longer live in the cave's vicinity. When the researchers compared the bones' mitochondrial DNA with those of extant populations, they found none of the ancient lineages had survived when the glaciers froze up again. But, as Boessenkool points out, "this was a shift to a colder [climate], not a period of warming that we are facing today. "And these are cold-adapted species – so if they struggled to cope with colder periods in the past, it will be even harder for these species to adapt to a warming climate," she says. This research was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Related News The DNA of Great White Sharks Defies Explanation. Here's Why. Meet The 'Genital King' Tarantula And Its Record-Breaking Sexual Organ Giant Stick Insect Found Hiding in Rainforest May Be Australia's Heaviest Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
06-08-2025
- Yahoo
75,000 years old: Europe's oldest Arctic animal community discovered in Norway cave
The bones of a vast community of 46 animals in a 75,000-year-old cave in Norway have provided a stunning and rare snapshot of a vanished Arctic world. Researchers only recently discovered and explored Arne Ovamgrotta, but the ancient cave has held a significant collection of animal bones for 75,000 years. Researchers confirmed the finding of 46 different types of animals, hinting at the existence of a large community banding together to weather the cold. Their remains represent the oldest example of an animal community in the European Arctic during this warmer period of the Ice Age and provide an unprecedented first look at a community struggling, if not failing to survive, climate change. According to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the study authors believe the newly discovered bones will feed conservation efforts today by helping researchers understand 'resilience and extinction risk in the present.' These animals didn't survive the Ice Age According to study author Dr. Sam Walker of Bournemouth University and the University of Oslo, this 'rare snapshot of a vanished Arctic world' included an impressive, if not astonishing, assemblage of bones. Among the animals were polar bears, walruses, bowhead whales, Atlantic puffins, common eiders, rock ptarmigans, and Atlantic cod. Additionally, as per a press release, they found collared lemmings, which no one had ever uncovered in Scandavia previously, a species now extinct in Europe. The massive number communicated to researchers that temperatures had increased significantly enough 75,000 years ago to allow these animals passage to the cave. Reindeer, porpoise, and freshwater fish bones further told researchers that rivers and lakes returned to this area. 'The cave has now revealed a diverse mix of animals in a coastal environment representing both the marine and the terrestrial environment,' according to a press release. A picture of this region on Earth became clearer than ever as remains over 10,000 years old are a rare find. This underexplored period during the Ice Age saw the melting of ice, which was enough to support a struggling community of animals. Warnings for our future DNA testing found that these animals did not survive when temperatures dropped back to bone-chilling and fatal degrees. Harsh sheets of ice returned to the region, preventing any possibility of migrating elsewhere, as per Popsci. 'This highlights how cold-adapted species struggle to adapt to major climatic events. This has a direct link to the challenges they are facing in the Arctic today as the climate warms at a rapid pace,' said Dr Walker. 'The habitats these animals in the region live in today are much more fractured than 75,000 years ago, so it is even harder for animal populations to move and adapt,' Dr. Walker continued. 'It is also important to note that this was a shift to a colder, not a period of warming, that we are facing today,' senior author Professor Boessenkool says. 'And these are cold-adapted species – so if they struggled to cope with colder periods in the past, it will be even harder for these species to adapt to a warming climate,' she concludes in a press release. Read the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Solve the daily Crossword
