The mystery of the last years of mammoths

A Dutch researcher has examined the jaw of prehistoric mastodon. This 2.5 million-year-old fossil can provide an understanding of the primordial causes of primitive elephants.

Discover the last years of mammoths

The researchers found that the last mammoth endeavor of the black-haired mammoth in Siberia before extinction was not of native elephants, but of giant animals of American descent.

Black feather mammoths once dominated the Earth for more than half a million years, from Europe and Asia to North America. This Ice Age giant disappeared from Siberia 9,000 years ago, although mammoths survived on the island of Wrangel in the Arctic Ocean until about 3,700 years ago.

Other skeletons found include a 5-meter long ivory, the researchers said was the largest ivory ever discovered in the world.(Photo: Evangelia Tsoukala / University of Thessalonki)

Hendrik Poinar , an evolutionary genetic researcher at MacMaster University, Hamilton, Canada, said: 'Scientists always assume that because mammoths dominate the vast territory - from Western Europe to Central North America - because So North American mammoths have no significant role in the evolution of this animal. '

Practical history

To discover the true history of mammoths, Poinar and his colleagues have used the past three years to collect ancient DNA from 160 mammoth samples of various types from Europe, Asia to North America, and from there. they built an elephant's genealogy tree.

Many scientists believe that all black-haired mammoths are a family line of relatives in a 1,000-mile-long Bering strip that once connected Alaska to Eastern Siberia.

Instead the Bering strip may be a barrier rather than an open corridor between the East and the West, because the mixture of mammoths of the ancient world and the modern world seems very rare, new research suggests. know. The researchers explained that the strip could be like a tundra and not suitable for the life of large creatures. The group of black fur mammoths were separated and developed genetically separately to form different herds.

Siberian mammoths suddenly mysteriously weakened about 40,000 years ago, and quickly migrating American elephants replaced them.

A drawing of a black feathered mammoth.(Photo: Stephan Schuster laboratory, Penn State)

Poinar said: 'Something happened to the Siberian mammoths. They abruptly disappeared from the ground and were knocked out by North American mammoths. '

These findings exceed the understanding of scientists in the past because such a genetic alternative is 'very difficult, or can be said to be unexplainable by considering teeth, ivory or bone', Poinar explained.

The above species replacement is not uncommon on a small scale, 'the same thing can happen on a continental scale,' said researcher Ross MacPhee, who is in charge of mammals at the history museum itself. Of course the United States in New York, said.

The mystery has no answer

Considering the cause of the continental decline, MacPhee said: 'there are still many unexplained things' . He did not think that the competition between different mammoth strains was the culprit. Excessive hunting of humans is also unreasonable. He said: 'People are present in both Asia and North America at the time, but the number of mammoths in North America has not decreased. Of course the epidemic is immediately mentioned, but we have not made any progress on this issue. '

Freezing remains of mammoths, containing preserved tissue and hair.(Photo; Khatanga / Tom Gilbert lab)

The evolutionary geneticist Régis Debruyne at McMaster University stressed that: 'For more than a century, any discussion of black-haired mammoths has focused on Eurasian mammoths. Specimens from North America often receive little attention, and North American mammoth contributions to the evolutionary history of the species are considered insignificant. This study clearly proved the opposite '.

MacPhee said: 'It seems that mammoths have a very complicated outcome. The phenomena of major collapse are part of their history - events in Siberia can be a sign of the extinction of this giant animal. '

DNA analysis revealed that the Siberian mammoths that North American elephants might not be the mammoth mammuthus primigenius , another ancient elephant. On the other hand, the original Siberian mammoth may be a black-haired elephant that inherits DNA from ancient hybrid ancestors. More detailed genetic analysis will reveal which ability is correct, 'and can help identify some genes that have made evolutionary advantage allow a mammoth strain to survive, while another strain dies'.

Dick Mol, a paleontologist in the Netherlands, and Bernard Buigues, curator of the mammoth museum in Siberia, examine the remains of a black feather mammoth. (Photo; A. Tikhonov )

Debruyne, Poinar, MacPhee and colleagues detailed their findings in the online journal Curent Biology on September 4.

The study was conducted by the Canadian Council of Natural Sciences, the human limited international scientific organization, the Canadian Society for Humanities and Social Sciences, the research program of Canadian university professors. , and Discovery science channel sponsored.