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Genome-Based Sexing Provides Clues about Behavior and Social Structure in the Woolly Mammoth

Pečnerová, Patrícia LU orcid ; Díez-Del-Molino, David ; Dussex, Nicolas ; Feuerborn, Tatiana ; von Seth, Johanna ; van der Plicht, Johannes ; Nikolskiy, Pavel ; Tikhonov, Alexei ; Vartanyan, Sergey and Dalén, Love LU (2017) In Current biology : CB 27(22). p.3-3510
Abstract

While present-day taxa are valuable proxies for understanding the biology of extinct species, it is also crucial to examine physical remains in order to obtain a more comprehensive view of their behavior, social structure, and life histories [1, 2]. For example, information on demographic parameters such as age distribution and sex ratios in fossil assemblages can be used to accurately infer socioecological patterns (e.g., [3]). Here we use genomic data to determine the sex of 98 woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) specimens in order to infer social and behavioral patterns in the last 60,000 years of the species' existence. We report a significant excess of males among the identified samples (69% versus 31%; p < 0.0002). We argue... (More)

While present-day taxa are valuable proxies for understanding the biology of extinct species, it is also crucial to examine physical remains in order to obtain a more comprehensive view of their behavior, social structure, and life histories [1, 2]. For example, information on demographic parameters such as age distribution and sex ratios in fossil assemblages can be used to accurately infer socioecological patterns (e.g., [3]). Here we use genomic data to determine the sex of 98 woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) specimens in order to infer social and behavioral patterns in the last 60,000 years of the species' existence. We report a significant excess of males among the identified samples (69% versus 31%; p < 0.0002). We argue that this male bias among mammoth remains is best explained by males more often being caught in natural traps that favor preservation. We hypothesize that this is a consequence of social structure in proboscideans, which is characterized by matriarchal hierarchy and sex segregation. Without the experience associated with living in a matriarchal family group, or a bachelor group with an experienced bull, young or solitary males may have been more prone to die in natural traps where good preservation is more likely.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
keywords
Animals, Behavior, Animal, Elephants/genetics, Extinction, Biological, Female, Fossils, Genome, Genomics, Male, Mammoths/anatomy & histology, Phylogeny, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Sex Determination Analysis/methods, Sex Determination by Skeleton/methods, Sex Ratio, Sexual Behavior/physiology, Social Behavior
in
Current biology : CB
volume
27
issue
22
pages
3 - 3510
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • pmid:29103934
  • scopus:85035069179
ISSN
1879-0445
DOI
10.1016/j.cub.2017.09.064
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
id
f6cfa648-52ee-45dd-8ebd-867bca97a4f1
date added to LUP
2024-10-10 15:58:17
date last changed
2025-04-11 20:47:41
@article{f6cfa648-52ee-45dd-8ebd-867bca97a4f1,
  abstract     = {{<p>While present-day taxa are valuable proxies for understanding the biology of extinct species, it is also crucial to examine physical remains in order to obtain a more comprehensive view of their behavior, social structure, and life histories [1, 2]. For example, information on demographic parameters such as age distribution and sex ratios in fossil assemblages can be used to accurately infer socioecological patterns (e.g., [3]). Here we use genomic data to determine the sex of 98 woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) specimens in order to infer social and behavioral patterns in the last 60,000 years of the species' existence. We report a significant excess of males among the identified samples (69% versus 31%; p &lt; 0.0002). We argue that this male bias among mammoth remains is best explained by males more often being caught in natural traps that favor preservation. We hypothesize that this is a consequence of social structure in proboscideans, which is characterized by matriarchal hierarchy and sex segregation. Without the experience associated with living in a matriarchal family group, or a bachelor group with an experienced bull, young or solitary males may have been more prone to die in natural traps where good preservation is more likely.</p>}},
  author       = {{Pečnerová, Patrícia and Díez-Del-Molino, David and Dussex, Nicolas and Feuerborn, Tatiana and von Seth, Johanna and van der Plicht, Johannes and Nikolskiy, Pavel and Tikhonov, Alexei and Vartanyan, Sergey and Dalén, Love}},
  issn         = {{1879-0445}},
  keywords     = {{Animals; Behavior, Animal; Elephants/genetics; Extinction, Biological; Female; Fossils; Genome; Genomics; Male; Mammoths/anatomy & histology; Phylogeny; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Sex Determination Analysis/methods; Sex Determination by Skeleton/methods; Sex Ratio; Sexual Behavior/physiology; Social Behavior}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{11}},
  number       = {{22}},
  pages        = {{3--3510}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Current biology : CB}},
  title        = {{Genome-Based Sexing Provides Clues about Behavior and Social Structure in the Woolly Mammoth}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.09.064}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.cub.2017.09.064}},
  volume       = {{27}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}