Back to today’s briefing

Story perspectives

Oldest North American Mammoth Tooth Discovered in Yukon

4/23/2025

50 4

Summary

Story summary

A remarkable discovery in the Yukon Territory has unveiled a 216,000-year-old woolly mammoth tooth, marking it as North America's oldest mammoth fossil. This groundbreaking find reshapes our understanding of mammoth migration, indicating they arrived much earlier than previously believed. DNA analysis through molecular clock dating offers fresh insights into their evolution and genetic diversity.

1 of 1

Story summary

A remarkable discovery in the Yukon Territory has unveiled a 216,000-year-old woolly mammoth tooth, marking it as North America's oldest mammoth fossil. This groundbreaking find reshapes our understanding of mammoth migration, indicating they arrived much earlier than previously believed. DNA analysis through molecular clock dating offers fresh insights into their evolution and genetic diversity.