Ancients hyena's fossilised poop reveals details about woolly rhinoceros

Scientists have reconstructed the mitochondrial genome of extinct woolly rhinoceros from DNA they extracted from the fossilised faeces of the cave hyenas.

The world knows that there are two types of Ice Age woolly rhinoceros known to science: Siberian and European. In order to learn more about the European species, the researchers have used an odd substance - the poop of an ancient hyena.

The study, titled "Woolly-rhino genome emerges from cave hyena’s fossilized poo", published on Nov 1 noted the analysis which shows that the now-extinct beast split into two populations almost half a million years ago.

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To understand this process, it is important to note that in the distant past, hyenas were natural predators of the European woolly rhinoceros.

The researchers, hence, studied their fossilised faeces in a few museum collections. The study mentioned that the samples came from caves in Germany's Lone Valley.

As per the authors, the coprolites were in soil that dates to the Middle Paleolithic era — 300,000 to 30,000 years ago.

As per the study, the genomic analysis reveals information about the physical traits, evolution, and behaviour of these massive Ice Age herbivores.

The researchers discovered genes that code for hair growth, fat accumulation, and the ability to withstand low temperatures.

The genomes of both species of woolly rhino were then compared. Between 2.5 million and 150,000 years ago, the European rhino started to divide.

This contradicts prior theories that the woolly rhino spread into Western Europe during cold winters in the Late Pleistocene epoch.

As quoted by the Science Alert, the researchers write in their paper, "The mitogenome assemblies produced here are the first mitogenomic records of European woolly rhinoceros and are thus an important resource to help resolve the phylogeography of this iconic Pleistocene megafauna species."

"The fact that these were retrieved with relative ease from a coprolite of another species (i.e. no remain associated directly to woolly rhinoceros was needed) stresses the value of obtaining genomic data from a wide range of materials," they added.

This study can be an example of the possibility of using fossilised faeces to study other extinct animals.

The authors commented: "The fact that these were retrieved with relative ease from a coprolite of another species stresses the value of obtaining genomic data from a wide range of materials."