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Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →A mammoth tooth from the Old Crow River region of northern Yukon, Canada, carries the oldest North American mammoth DNA sequenced to date, according to a 2025 peer-reviewed study. The specimen, MD228, is identified as a woolly mammoth and has a single-sample molecular-clock age estimate of 216,000 years. That number is not an exact date: the study’s 95% highest posterior density interval runs from 312,000 to 124,000 years ago.
What was found in the Old Crow region?
MD228 is a mammoth specimen from the Old Crow River region of northern Yukon. Genetic analysis places it at the base of North American woolly mammoth mitochondrial Clade 3. The specimen is important because its DNA links an early North American fossil to a specific woolly mammoth lineage.
Chacón-Duque and colleagues reported 34 new mammoth mitochondrial genomes in their 2025 study, published in Molecular Biology and Evolution on April 9, 2025. Read the peer-reviewed study.
How old is the Old Crow mammoth?
The reported mean age for MD228 is 216 ka, or about 216,000 years. Scientists express this as an estimate because molecular-clock dating infers age from genetic change rather than reading an exact calendar date from the tooth.
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Why the uncertainty range is so wide
The study gives a 95% highest posterior density interval of 312–124 ka. In practical terms, the analysis considers many ages within that range plausible, with 216 ka as its mean estimate. A headline that presents 216,000 years as an exact date would overstate what the method can establish.
How did scientists date it?
Radiocarbon dating is generally useful only to roughly 50,000 years, the approximate limit discussed in the study. MD228 is far older, so the researchers used a single-sample molecular clock: they compared its mitochondrial sequence with dated mammoth sequences and modelled the rate and pattern of genetic change.
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The authors emphasize that older specimens should be dated individually. Assigning one age to a group of fossils can bias evolutionary timelines when the specimens were deposited at different times.
- Sequence the mitochondrial DNA. The team recovered a mitochondrial genome from MD228 and added it to a broader mammoth dataset.
- Place the specimen on a mammoth family tree. MD228 falls at the base of North American woolly mammoth mitochondrial Clade 3.
- Estimate its divergence time. A molecular-clock model produced the 216 ka mean and the 312–124 ka 95% interval.
What does it reveal about woolly mammoth migration?
The result indicates that woolly mammoths had reached North America before 200,000 years ago. Genetic and fossil evidence in the study strongly supports a Siberian origin for Clade 3, but it does not establish a particular crossing route or prove that all early mammoths arrived in one migration.
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MD228 therefore helps move the timeline of woolly mammoth presence in North America earlier while also showing why lineage history and fossil context must be considered together.
What does “oldest mammoth in America” really mean?
The superlative needs a precise scope. The paper describes MD228 as, to the authors’ knowledge, the oldest mammoth DNA sequenced from North America. It also identifies the earliest confirmed woolly mammoth fossil in North America as approximately 220,000 years old.
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That does not make MD228 the oldest mammoth fossil of every species in the Americas, nor the oldest mammoth DNA anywhere in the world. Earlier mammoth genome data from Siberian specimens have been dated to about 1.6–1.1 million years ago.
Why this specimen matters
| Evidence | What MD228 contributes |
|---|---|
| Fossil and species identification | A North American specimen morphologically identified as a woolly mammoth, from the Old Crow River region. |
| Age | 216 ka mean molecular-clock estimate; 95% highest posterior density interval of 312–124 ka. |
| Geography | Northern Yukon, Canada, documenting an early North American occurrence. |
| Mitochondrial lineage | Placement at the base of North American woolly mammoth mitochondrial Clade 3. |
| Evolutionary implication | Supports arrival in North America before 200 ka and a Siberian origin inference for Clade 3. |
What remains uncertain?
- The 216 ka figure is a model-based estimate, not an exact direct date.
- The broad 95% interval leaves substantial uncertainty about the specimen’s precise age.
- Mitochondrial DNA tracks one maternal lineage, not the complete genetic history of the individual or population.
- The findings support early arrival and a Siberian origin inference, but they do not prove a single migration event or a specific route into North America.
Bottom line
MD228 is best described as the oldest North American mammoth DNA sequenced to the authors’ knowledge and an approximately 216,000-year-old woolly mammoth specimen from Yukon. Its value lies not only in the record claim, but in showing that molecular clocks can help date mammoths far beyond radiocarbon’s approximate 50,000-year limit and clarify when woolly mammoths reached North America.
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