Woolly Mammoths, DNA, and the Genesis Flood

Scientists figure that Wrangel Island, way up north in the Arctic Ocean, was where the woolly mammoths had their last stand. After these elephant-types walked there, water levels rose and marooned them. Research involved obtaining physical samples and sequencing DNA.

The results were surprising. It was assumed that the mammoths inbred themselves to death, but that is not exactly so. When a population is radically reduced, it is called a bottleneck. Bad mutations increase. The mammoth bottleneck did not have the presumed deleterious effects. Interestingly, this has implications for Noah and his family.

Woolly mammoth cave art from Les Combarelles, France / PD

Scoffers of the Genesis Flood point out that the human population would have to be rebuilt from six of the eight individuals on the Ark, so they assume the bottleneck was insurmountable. Humans are more complex than the elephant kind. The implications for the human population after the Flood are supportive of creation science views.

A new study on the last known surviving woolly mammoth population is raising eyebrows. A group of scientists travelled to Wrangel Island, an isolated spot in the Arctic Ocean that was once connected to the mainland. They collected bone and ivory fragments, carbon dated the samples, and examined each one to see if any contained intact DNA. They then sequenced the genomes of the best-preserved samples. Interestingly, this tells us a lot about the genetics of animals on board the Ark and their fate in the post-Flood world.

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