They were among the animals of the Ice Age: woolly rhinos (Coelodonta antiquitatis) once lived in the steppes of Europe and Asia. Bone finds proved that the herbivores could also be found in Germany. Now researchers near Ulm have also been able to detect DNA traces of the four-legged friends, as the University of Konstanz announced.
The traces were discovered in almost fossilized hyena droppings that were up to 60,000 years old. The remains of the scavengers were discovered years ago during excavations by the Baden-Württemberg State Office for Monument Preservation in the caves of the Lone Valley northeast of Ulm.
Researchers from the University of Konstanz evaluated the traces together with colleagues from the University of Tübingen. According to the researchers, the hyenas ate the woolly rhinos 45,000 to 60,000 years ago. The genetic traces would now provide conclusions about the family tree of the extinct European woolly rhinoceros and its relationships to its Siberian counterparts.
Hyena scat is full of information
Woolly rhinos, like woolly mammoths and cave lions, belong to the Ice Age megafauna. Their thick fur provided warmth and protected them from the cold. Her shoulder height is estimated at two meters. According to experts, the animals weighed around 1,700 kilograms and had two impressive horns on the bridge of their noses.
The animals’ genetic material that has now been found should be further examined. It could shed more light on population sizes and relationships. The hyena feces also contain a lot of information about plants and other organisms in the area and are very suitable for understanding the ancient environment in which Neanderthals, among others, lived, explained environmental genomicist Laura Epp from Konstanz.
“It’s a bit crazy that we reconstructed the first mitochondrial genome of a European woolly rhinoceros purely from the fossilized excrement of a hyena,” continues Professor Epp. “But it indicates where we can get genomic data from – even from samples that at first glance appear to have nothing to do with the organisms.”
