Neanderthals have some of the same genetic traits as woolly mammoths

What's the difference between a Neanderthal and a woolly mammoth?

Well, one's a gigantic prehistoric elephant and the other is an early ancestor to modern humans. But the two species have a surprising number of similarities. They're both mammals, both evolved into being hundreds of thousands of years ago, and both lived in Europe. And now, new research suggests that their similarities go right down to their DNA.

Mammoths and Neanderthals likely had the same mechanism of adapting to their cold environment, per a study published in the journal Human Biology on Monday. The study looked at three cases of genetic material that were associated with cold adaptation in both species, Fox News explained, and found a significant number of similarities in those genes.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Mammoths and Neanderthals didn't evolve those genes from the same place — which makes this research a striking piece of evidence in the study of convergent evolution, said Phys.org. Convergent evolution is the process by which organisms become more similar over time, even though they don't share common ancestry, usually because of their shared environment.

"We believe these types of connections can be valuable for future evolutionary research," said Meidad Kislev, one of the study's authors. The other author, Ran Barkai, added that this study could provide a foundation for "new research in evolution, archaeology, and other disciplines."

Read more about the study at Phys.org.