All articles tagged with #extinct animal
Scientists in Sweden successfully recovered and analyzed RNA from a 130-year-old preserved thylacine, providing insights into its gene activity, tissue types, and potential viral history, marking a significant advancement in paleotranscriptomics and extinct species research.
Researchers have discovered that San cave paintings from the early 1800s depict a dicynodont, an extinct Permian animal, predating formal paleontological identification by at least a decade, highlighting indigenous knowledge of ancient fossils and their integration into cultural narratives.
Scientists have successfully extracted RNA from the skin and muscle of a 132-year-old Tasmanian tiger, making it the first extinct animal from which RNA has been recovered. The recovery of RNA from extinct animals like the thylacine could provide valuable insights into gene activity and the biology of extinct species. RNA sequences reveal which genes are actually active and used to make proteins inside cells. This breakthrough could aid in ongoing efforts to resurrect the thylacine and also help detect the presence of different RNA viruses through time, accelerating our understanding of viral evolution.