Mulleted mammoth called Chris Waddle helps scientists crack creatures’ genetic code

The samples have been described as ‘a new kind of fossil’ that contains far more information than those studied before. Photograph: Love Dalén/Stockholm University

Researchers have reconstructed the genetic code of the woolly mammoth in unprecedented detail after discovering fossilised chromosomes in the skin of a 52,000-year-old carcass preserved in the Siberian permafrost.

The mammoth’s lavish mane led researchers to name it after Chris Waddle, the mulleted former England footballer. It became freeze-dried on death, a process that preserved the 3D structure of the chromosomes in the animal’s skin.