Why Are Mammoths Extinct? page all

KOMPAS.com – For five million years, hairy mammoth roaming the Earth.

The cousins ​​of today’s elephants became extinct almost 4,000 years ago.

Through a number of studies, scientists were finally able to determine the cause of the extinction of the mammoth.

The cause of the extinction of mammoths

Reported from Science Daily, geneticists analyzed the DNA of ancient environments and proved that when icebergs melted, the environment became too wet for the giant animals to survive due to their diminishing food sources.

The analysis is the result of 10 years of research, published by Nature in 2021, and led by Professor Eske Willerslev, Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge University, and director of The Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre, Copenhagen University.

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The research team used DNA gun sequencing to analyze plant and animal remains in the environment, including urine, feces, and skin cells.

The animal remains were taken from soil samples collected over 20 years from sites in the Arctic, where mammoth remains were found.

“Scientists have debated for 100 years about why mammoths went extinct. Humans have been blamed because previously mammoths had survived for millions of years and climate change didn’t kill them. However, when mammoths lived with humans they eventually became extinct and humans were thought to be the culprit due to hunting, “explained Prof. Willerslev.

Prof. Willerslev said researchers were finally able to prove that it wasn’t just climate change that was the problem.

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However, mammoths could not adapt quickly enough when the landscape changed dramatically and their food became scarce.

“As the climate warms, trees and wetland plants take over and replace the mammoth prairie habitat.”

Dr. Yucheng Wang, author of the paper and Research Associate in the Zoology Department, Cambridge University, said the Ice Age (Pleistocene) ended 12,000 years ago when glaciers began to melt and the range of mammoths decreased.

It is thought that mammoths were becoming extinct around this time, but research has also found that they actually survived beyond the Ice Age.

“When the climate becomes wetter and the ice begins to melt, it causes the formation of lakes, rivers and swamps. Ecosystems change and vegetation biomass decreases so that it is unable to support mammoth herds,” said Dr. money.

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According to Dr. Wang, analysis shows that climate change, especially rainfall, directly drives changes in vegetation and humans have absolutely no impact on mammoth populations.

Humans have lived with woolly mammoths for at least 2,000 years.

The mammoth extinction is the story of the last major extinction to occur naturally.

“Rainfall was the cause of the extinction of woolly mammoths through changes in plants. These changes happened so quickly that they could not adapt and evolve to survive,” said Prof. Willerslev.

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