Science News Explores turned to a geoscience expert at the University of Cincinnati for background on a new study examining a genetic bottleneck in the world’s last woolly mammoths.

Researchers at Stockholm University studied the genetics of mammoth remains found on Russia’s Wrangel Island, home to the last living population of these elephant-like Ice Age leviathans.

They found that the mammoths initially suffered from genetic mutations caused by inbreeding, but the population recovered within a few generations and remained stable, suggesting that inbreeding may not have led to their extinction on the island.

Joshua Miller, an assistant professor in the UC College of Arts and Sciences, told Science News Explores the study was remarkable. He was not involved in the research but uses the latest scientific techniques to study mammoths and other prehistoric animals.

Miller said the study provides further clues to explaining the mammoth extinction on Wrangel Island and offers promising insights into how the use of similar genetic tracking techniques can help endangered species today.

Miller has hiked through the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to study both historical and current caribou migration patterns, and he uses methods like isotope analysis to answer questions about prehistoric animals.

Read the story from Science News Explores.

Image above: UC Assistant Professor Joshua Miller stands in front of a bronze mammoth statue outside the Geier Collections and Research Center at the Cincinnati Museum Center. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand