Woolly mammoth was never served at a lavish 1950s New York dinner where rare and extinct species were trumpeted as being on the menu, a researcher has said after putting leftover meat through DNA analysis.

The Explorers Club soiree became folklore after it was said to have included 250,000-year-old extinct mammoth. Meat from a giant ground sloth was also promised.

But a DNA analysis from a fist-sized piece of meat kept as a souvenir showed something more mundane: sea turtle.