The fragments of Older DNA never discovered date back to approx 2 million years ago and belong to different species of trees, plant, large mammals And insects who inhabited the north of Greenland during the Pleistocene. Unlike what is described in science fiction novels, it is therefore not the genome of dinosaurs. The discovery, documented in a study published in the journal Natureit still remains surprising since it opened a window on a ancient ecosystemrevealing how Greenland was a more warm and hospitable compared to the polar desert we know today.
The minute fragments of DNA were extracted from the surface of minerals present in coastal clays and sands of the formation Kap København, In the permafrost from the Peary Land Peninsula, wet fromArctic Ocean. Through the analysis of genomic sequences, together with comparison with various genetic databases and with fossil pollen And macrofossils found at the site, researchers were able to identify DNA belonging to a total of 102 genera of plants And 9 animal families.
Most of the identified plant genera are still present today in northern Greenland, including willows, junipers, birches and ericaceous (like blueberry plants). Fragments of DNA were also found belonging to plants and shrubs that no longer grow in the region today, but which are still found in North America, such as some conifers and the hawthorn.
Genomic analysis revealed the presence of predominantly animals herbivoreslike i mammoth of the kind Mastodonrepresenting the oldest Mammoth DNA never found. The previous record, dated to ca 1.1 million yearscame from the teeth of Krestovka mammothdiscovered in Siberia in 2020. Other animals that populated Greenland between 2.1 and 1.9 million years ago, identified through DNA studies, include several genera of reindeer And deer, rodentsspecimens of the family of ducks and even ants.
The presence of large herbivorous animals and the great variety of plant species outline a completely different environment compared to the current one, in which Greenland is often defined as a “Polar Sahara.” On the contrary, 2 million years ago, during a so-called interglacial periodthe region was full of life. The Kap København ecosystem was made up of a unique mix of arctic and temperate species, with no modern equivalent. The temperatures could have been up to 19°C higher degrees compared to the current ones.
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