Mammoths: Blondes and brunettes?

The wool of woolly mammoths may have come in at least two shades, according to new genetic research.

Scientists have dug up several of the Pleistocene-era beasts in recent years, and a few well-preserved specimens have yielded remains of the animals’ distinctive hairy coats. However, scientists weren’t sure whether the color variations they’ve seen represent mammoths’ true hues, notes evolutionary biologist Michael Hofreiter of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.