A fossilised tooth found in a swamp has allowed scientists to work out the DNA of a primitive North American elephant

SCIENTISTS have worked out part of the genetic structure of the mastodon, a giant primitive elephant, after finding DNA preserved in the fossilised tooth of a beast that died up to 130,000 years ago.

Researchers were hoping its teeth might have preserved enough of the DNA for them to recover lengthy chunks of it, and this week they will publish research detailing how their hunch has paid off. The find has allowed them to reconstruct the entire sequence of the DNA found in the creature’s mitochondria, the parts of cells concerned with energy production. It is thought to be the oldest DNA ever to have been recovered and decoded in this way.