For years, scientists have debated the cause of the extinction of the woolly mammoth. Some suggested that the giant creatures went extinct because of the climate change that happened about 15,000 years ago. Others suggested that they went extinct because of human hunting. And then there were those who suggested that the mammoth went extinct because of both. But which of these was the closest to reality? A new simulation suggests that it was the third theory.
Prior research has shown that as the planet warmed after the last ice age, woolly mammoths began to move north—they survived by eating the types of grass that grow in cold climates. Prior research has also shown that most of them died out approximately 11,000 years ago—small pockets managed to survive in some isolated areas for a few thousand more years. It is generally believed that the last of them died out approximately 4,000 years ago.
In this new effort, the researchers created a simulation showing wooly mammoth populations from approximately 21,000 years ago, to 4,000 years ago—the time when the last of the mammoths died out. To recreate conditions the mammoths faced, the researchers added climate data as well as known human hunting data. They ran their simulation over 90,000 times with slight changes to the factors that might have led to their demise. The simulations showed that the most likely scenario involved climate change pushing the mammoths into smaller environments and hunters finishing them off. The simulations also showed that it is likely that some of mammoth populations survived for longer than has been thought in regions that have not been explored yet. Interestingly, the researchers also found that if they removed human hunters from the simulations, the majority of the mammoths held on for another 4,000 years.
To put it simply, had we humans not hunted every last one of them, they would have been around for a little bit longer.
(Image Credit: Pixabay)