Woolly mammoths: DNA proves prehistoric hunters targeted females

Woolly mammoths left traces far beyond their bones -- they also left evidence of their relationship with prehistoric hunters. An international study published in late July 2026 in Current Biology analysed the ancient DNAAncient DNAGenetic material preserved in old remains, often degraded, sequenced with cutting-edge techniques.→ of 521 woolly mammoths and revealed a highly significant sex imbalance between natural deposits and human butchery sites.¹

100 campsite skeletons, 421 natural deposits

To distinguish what nature and humans left behind, researchers gathered DNADNAThe molecule carrying genetic information, used to reconstruct kinship between species.→ samples from 521 woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) that died between 30,000 and 20,000 years ago across Europe, Asia and North America. Of these, 100 came from 11 sites where bones accumulated near traces of human activity -- knapped flintFlintA hard, brittle siliceous rock, knapped by prehistoric people to produce blades, points and sharp tools.→, bone structures, hearths -- while the remaining 421 came from deposits formed without human intervention, at the bottom of lakes or rivers. The sex of each individual was read directly from their genes.¹

The contrast is striking. In natural accumulations, 66% of individuals are male, while campsites yield 70% females. For the team, which includes geneticist Love Dalen from Stockholm University, this shift constitutes solid genetic evidence that many bone assemblages owe their existence to hunting rather than climateClimateThe long-term average atmospheric conditions of a region; its variations (glaciations, aridifications) shaped migrations, agriculture and the collapse of prehistoric societies.→ or accidents.

Why hunters targeted females

How can this preference for females be explained? Several hypotheses emerge. Mammoths probably lived in sex-segregated herds, with females grouped around their young and males more solitary. Encountering such a herd meant reaching multiple prey at once, with mothers unlikely to flee and abandon their calves. Hunters would also have crossed their paths more frequently during seasonal migrationsMigrationsLong-distance movements of populations; a major driver of human history (the exit from Africa, the peopling of continents, Neolithic and steppe expansions).→.

Targeting females was not without danger, however. Grouped around their young, they could charge and defend the herd with great violence, sometimes comparable to that of a solitary male. One question remains open: did humans actively hunt them, or did they exploit carcasses found already dead? The overrepresentation of females points more towards active hunting of specific herds.²

The inverse bias observed in natural deposits can be explained by the riskier lifestyle of males: more solitary, they ventured further from the group, more likely to fall into a ravine, crevasse or frozen watercourse. Their remains would then be preserved far from any human presence.

A mammoth with Turner syndrome

The DNA also yielded an unexpected surprise. On Wrangel Island in the Russian Arctic, one individual carried a single copy of the X sex chromosome in part of its cells and two copies in the rest -- an anomaly known in humans as Turner syndrome, involving the absence or alteration of a second sex chromosome. This is the first time such a case has been described in an extinct species.¹

This diagnosis, thousands of years old, shows how far back ancient DNA can reach when well preserved in permafrostPermafrostPermanently frozen ground; in the Altai, water seeping into kurgans froze into ice lenses that preserved bodies, textiles and wood for millennia.→. Buoyed by its method, the team plans to extend the approach to other bone assemblages in order to separate everywhere what belongs to hunters from what nature deposited, gradually mapping PalaeolithicPalaeolithicThe oldest and longest period of prehistory (c. 3.3 Ma–12,000 BC), defined by chipped stone tools and a hunter-gatherer way of life.→ hunting territories.