When did mammoths become extinct? History of the world

Mammoths are amazing mammals that have become extinct from climate change. They are distant relatives of modern elephants.

When did mammoths become extinct?

The species of mammoths is one of the most well studied in modern paleontology. First of all, this can be explained by the fact that they lived on Earth relatively recently and even were human contemporaries. Until now, researchers often stumble upon the remains of these animals.

So when did mammoths become extinct? This happened about 10 thousand years ago, when the last global cooling occurred in the global climate. Because of this, a violent species struggle for survival began. People who by this time have mastered various hunting tools, have become a threat to all mammoths. One carcass of such a beast could feed the tribe for a long time. Because of this, the range of these proboscis decreased more and more.

Fighting against man

Paleontologists often find the remains of giant animals at the sites of ancient people. Bones were carefully processed with the help of stone tools, so that later they could be used as tools in everyday life. The hunters had to invent many tricks to catch such a giant as a mammoth. The extinct animal did not succumb to the impacts of primitive copies. Of course, it was absolutely impossible for a man to overcome such a creature. Therefore, he was hunted by groups. On the trails, where mammoths wandered habitually, camouflaged pits ransacked, where the animal fell and became easy prey. Often spears or darts aimed at the groin - one of the few weaknesses. Similar methods in the XIX century used the aborigines of Africa when hunting for local elephants.

The impact of climate change

In addition, there was another important reason why mammoths died out. These animals did not have enough food. Many of the species that they ate, died out due to cold snap (total for this period disappeared 34 species). The lack of food and the human threat led to the fact that there were no mammoths left in the world. This phenomenon of mass extinction due to changes in living conditions in modern science was called the Great Holocene extinction.

There are several secondary signs of the fidelity of the theory that it is the climate that became the main cause of the disappearance of these mammals. When the mammoths died out, not only other animals, but also individual human communities disappeared with them. For example, this was the culture of Clovis. It was made by the natives of the Stone Age, who lived in Central and North America. That is, the coexistence of mammoths and humans did not become the cause of extinction of the proboscis.

Climate change included not only sharp freezing (changing the diet), but also warming, which was already directly hit by these giants. The retreat of the ice and taiga to the north forced them to migrate farther into the extreme latitudes, where they eventually became extinct.

Recent mammoths

Recent discoveries show that even after the disappearance of woolly elephants on the mainland, some isolated colonies existed on separate archipelagoes. For example, on the island of Wrangel were found bones, whose age was about 4 thousand years. So scientists have proved that isolated schools still took place when ancient pyramids were built in ancient Egypt, and Mycenaean civilization appeared in Greece. Of course, the inhabitants of the then Mediterranean did not know when the mammoths died out.

On the Wrangel Island, the mammoth period lasted an extra thousand years. However, these animals differed from those that had been prevalent throughout Eurasia. Their size rarely reached 1.5 meters. It was due to the fact that the food chain had changed a lot. Mammoths had to reduce the diet, which affected the growth of individuals in childhood. These data became known after the teeth were found and analyzed on the Wrangel Island by Russian paleontologists in 1993. The last "dwarf" community no longer knew predators, which could be a threat to them. Therefore, most of the fossils found correspond to older individuals.

When the mammoths died out on the mainland, other species took their place. On the Wrangel Island, the isolated community continued to exist and develop peacefully. But why did the mammoths die out on this small piece of sushi? Perhaps it was a man who was a boss. Unlike the previous era, when mammoths inhabited millions of square kilometers, killing only a few individuals on one island could upset the balance within the community.

Mammoth age

Now, when it became clear how many years ago mammoths died out, you can tell about the environment in which they experienced their heyday. This period took place about 120 thousand years ago. At this time, mammoths lived not only in modern Siberia, but also in Europe, up to Spain. In Asia, this habitat reached the shores of the Caspian Sea. Here, too, remains were found after the extinction of the mammoths. The era of their predominance in the surrounding fauna lasted several tens of millennia.

Mammoth helped the climate. During the Quaternary period, Eurasia experienced three strong cold snaps, when glaciers appeared far to the south of the Arctic Circle. The sharp continental climate has greatly reduced the area of impassable forests. Conversely, the size of steppes suitable for mammoths has increased many-fold.

Neighbors mammoths

Around these giants there was always a rich fauna with which they somehow contacted. They were reindeer, hairy rhinoceroses, musk oxen, horses, yaks, cave bears, saigas. From small mammals it is worth noting lemmings, gophers, etc. In total, about 80 species of fauna can be listed.

When due to gradual warming the native tundra-steppes were replaced by dense forests, mammoths left these places. So their area of decline, and in the end they completely disappeared.

Mammoths in folklore

The peoples of the Far North still keep many legends about woolly giants who once lived on their land. Siberia was a place where hunting for a mammoth used to flourish. The Komi, Khanty, Mansi and other indigenous inhabitants of the boundless tundra preserved in the folklore the legends about them. In addition, it is these people, even before Europeans, often found relict teeth and bones that were used in everyday life or as expensive jewelry.

The Alaskan Eskimos carved an image of these mammals on their weapons made from walrus bones. Laplanders living in the north of Scandinavia believe that mammoths are wool-covered giants that hide under the ground. The Chukchi of Eastern Siberia preserved legends about mammoths as bearers of the evil spirit.

These animals from Eurasia came to America. In the folklore of the Indians, there are also legends about the "huge bison". Hunting for the mammoth was common both on one and on the other continent. Because of the global cooling, the level of the world's oceans has significantly dropped, which enabled animals and people to travel from one part of the world to another.