'The results show that species occupying warmer climates have almost 50 percent more

DNA evolution relative to those in cooler climates,' he said.

'These results come from pairs of species generally living in close proximity to each other so we would expect the effect to be far more pronounced over continental and global scales,' he said.

The study, which is the largest of its kind, involved a comprehensive global data set that included 260 mammal species, from 10 orders and 29 families.

These findings have been published in the Royal Society's biological research journal Proceedings B.