THE GUARDIAN: Last of 'too silky' woolly mammoths blighted by bad mutations

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Matthew Cobb, professor of zoology at the University of Manchester who was not involved in the study, said that the findings were intriguing. “Assuming that these mammoth smell genes are truly non-functional, this may represent an adaptation to the particular conditions on Wrangel island,” he said. “Olfactory genes evolve very rapidly, and can quickly become non-functional where they no longer serve any function because food sources or predators have changed.” However, he cautions against drawing firm conclusions, noting that similar mutations thought to render genes defunct in other animals have not always had the expected effect.