Woolly mammoths seem old-school. Hunted by Neanderthals for tens of thousands of years, these elephant-like mammals, some with tusks up to 15 feet long, evolved hair and layers of fat to withstand the frigid temperatures of the ice age tundra as they roamed the northern reaches of Asia, Europe, and North America. Although no longer among us, their bones — and in some cases mummified remains — fill natural history museums around the world. But these ancient beasts aren’t as ancient as you might think. In fact, it’s estimated that the last woolly mammoth died around 1700 BCE — some 800 years after ancient Egyptians built the Great Pyramid of Giza.
As the Earth began transitioning out of the last ice age some 12,000 years ago, a warming world altered the woolly mammoth’s ecosystem. Melting glaciers created a wetter planet that destroyed the vegetation mammoths relied on for food, and this dramatic shift — along with continued human predation — led to complete extinction of the creatures in most areas around 8000 BCE. However, small pockets survived on some islands that benefited from both cold-weather vegetation and protection from human hunters.
Some of the last known mammoths lived in isolation on Wrangel Island, a Russian possession in the Arctic Ocean just northwest of Alaska, and they didn’t have an easy go of it. Scientists who compared a 4,300-year-old mammoth bone from Wrangel Island to mammoth specimens 10 times older and from the Siberian mainland found that these final woolly mammoths experienced what scientists call a “genetic meltdown” due to the limited gene pool on the island, with mutations that likely made it harder to mark territory and choose mates. As for the ancient Egyptians, they kept chugging along until the death of Cleopatra, in 30 BCE. With its transformation into a Roman province, the 3,000-year-old dynasty also went the way of the woolly mammoth.
Media Release/InterestingFacts.com
