Mastodons migrated across extreme distances due to climate change, study says

By Ashley Strickland, CNN

Updated 11:21 AM ET, Tue September 1, 2020

Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds.

This mastodon fossil is on display at the American Museum of Natural History. A new study using mastodon DNA has suggested the animals migrated many times across North America during fluctuations in climate and environment.
Photos: Ancient finds
This mastodon fossil is on display at the American Museum of Natural History. A new study using mastodon DNA has suggested the animals migrated many times across North America during fluctuations in climate and environment.
Hide Caption
1 of 77
A titanosaurian sauropod hatchling was found inside a dinosaur egg from 80 million years ago and its embryonic skull was still preserved.
Photos: Ancient finds
A titanosaurian sauropod hatchling was found inside a dinosaur egg from 80 million years ago and its embryonic skull was still preserved.
Hide Caption
2 of 77
This artist's illustration shows a young Purussaurus attacking a ground sloth in Amazonia 13 million years ago.
Photos: Ancient finds
This artist's illustration shows a young Purussaurus attacking a ground sloth in Amazonia 13 million years ago.
Hide Caption
3 of 77
This bundle of bones is the torso of another marine reptile inside the stomach of a fossilized ichthyosaur from 240 million years ago.
Photos: Ancient finds
This bundle of bones is the torso of another marine reptile inside the stomach of a fossilized ichthyosaur from 240 million years ago.
Hide Caption
4 of 77
Researchers uncovered the fossilized fragments of 200,000-year-old grass bedding in South Africa's Border Cave.
Photos: Ancient finds
Researchers uncovered the fossilized fragments of 200,000-year-old grass bedding in South Africa's Border Cave.
Hide Caption
5 of 77
Meet Sasha, the preserved and reconstructed remains of a baby woolly rhinoceros named that was discovered in Siberia.
Photos: Ancient finds
Meet Sasha, the preserved and reconstructed remains of a baby woolly rhinoceros named that was discovered in Siberia.
Hide Caption
6 of 77