What color is the elephant?

The fur coat of the prehistoric giant animal has been identified by scientists. Some animals have curly tusks that "face" their dark brown wings, while others are pale or yellowish.

Information was gathered from a feather mammoth skeleton, lived 43,000 years ago in Siberia, using the latest gene technology.

Mammoths have both bright and dark fur (Photo: LiveSciences)

The researchers say a gene called Mc1r plays a role in controlling the fur color of this beast.

Mammoths carry two versions of the Mc1r gene. These two versions differ only in 3 amino acids (or DNA "characters" ), making a semi-partial and other forms of activity fully functional.

Elephants with a semi-active Mc1r version will have pale fur, while those with a strong active version are darker in color.

Gene Mc1r is also responsible for creating colors for some modern animals today. In humans, the weaker-active Mc1r gene produces red hair color, while in dogs, mice and horses, it is the author of yellow hair color.

The discovery was made by Holger Rompler from Leipzig University, Germany.

Unlike humans, mammoth feathers may not become "grizzly" according to their age. "Most animals are not grayed out when they get old. We don't really know why humans are like that."

Extinct mammoths about 10,000 years ago. Scientists are not sure if the climatic conditions or the hunting of humans has pushed them to that disaster. Some experts propose the use of DNA to regenerate this giant animal.

T. An