I would say that generally, when people picture extinct animals, mammoths are the ones that readily come to mind. Humans have this subconscious attraction for large animals. Its a combination of desiring control over it, to understand and hopefully one day be able to yield its power, a little jealousy, a healthy dose of fear, and, of course, to kill and eat it. We are innately fascinated by big furry creatures.
There are three species of mammoths; in order of largest to smallest: Columbian, Woolly, and Wrangel Island. I love it when people keep it simple. The Columbian mammoth was primarily found in North America and Central America (think Honduras and Nicaragua as the boundary lines). It must be noted that a large male would have consumed approximately 700lbs of greens per day. The Woolly mammoth mainly roamed in North America and Eurasia (aka Europe and Asia). Wrangel Island is part of Alaska. One of the uber sweet thing about islands is that even if there are the same kind of animal on the mainland, that animals will be different on the island. It's a different living condition there, and likewise, the species have to adapt. Or die. There's always that option. Vis-a-vis, those "island" mammoths were what I like to call small.
Mass killings? Meteorite? Glacial retreat? Biological warfare? Duhn duhn duhn DUUUHHHHHNNNN. Woollys (or is it Woollies) lived as long as 8,000BC in Eurasia, 3,750BC in parts of North America. The lil' guys on Wrangel Island lived until 1,650BC. Around 6,000BC the Columbians said hello to their little friend. Not the Wrangel Island little friends. Because that wold just be weird. And implausible. But what oh what killed them? Old age? Freak accident or mere coincidence? Yes. Sure. I mean, why not? The fact is there is no real agreed upon explanation.
In some areas, there were a mass collection of mammoth remains leading to a theory that humans were hunting the mammoths in such a manner that sometimes forced them to fall off a cliff to their deaths and subsequently became a rich meal. It's not as though humans didn't hunt them, but it's unlikely that they were the sole cause of their extinction. Habitat change would have been, if nothing else, another contributing factor. The glaciers were receding. Grasslands became woodlands. Seeing as mammoths love them some herbs, they wouldn't have fared so well. And because it happened at a somewhat fast pace, the mammoths didn't really have enough time to learn to like and live off of bark and pine needles. Others speculate that there was a mass infection. What's most likely is that a number of factors lead to their end. With the habitat changing, mammoths weren't able to sustain a very healthy life and a large population wouldn't have been able to survive, so their numbers would have dwindled. Maybe this left them vulnerable to more diseases, or a specific disease. Add in the fact that mammoths general gestation period was probably just under two years and then on top of that there's this new animal that stands on two legs and is really small, but fuck does it know how to kill.
Seeing as this beauty is extinct, it kinda begs the question: how could we possibly know that much? Well, Wikipedia doesn't hurt. And lest we forget a small, yet noteworthy reason: real bodies. Yes. Seriously. The great thing about Siberia is it makes for perfect mammoth carcasses. Sometimes mammoths would get caught in a sinkhole or the like, it would be frozen in a layer of permafrost (below freezing for more than 2 weeks) which would preserve the body. Some even had food in their stomachs.
The mammoth is just one of billions of species gone extinct. In fact, about 99.9% of all life that ever lived is now extinct. To try and comprehend what that means in terms of how the hell things worked out the way they did throughout the evolution of life and how humans came to be from all that is, well, frankly, overwhelming. And at the very same time, hopelessly interesting.
There are three species of mammoths; in order of largest to smallest: Columbian, Woolly, and Wrangel Island. I love it when people keep it simple. The Columbian mammoth was primarily found in North America and Central America (think Honduras and Nicaragua as the boundary lines). It must be noted that a large male would have consumed approximately 700lbs of greens per day. The Woolly mammoth mainly roamed in North America and Eurasia (aka Europe and Asia). Wrangel Island is part of Alaska. One of the uber sweet thing about islands is that even if there are the same kind of animal on the mainland, that animals will be different on the island. It's a different living condition there, and likewise, the species have to adapt. Or die. There's always that option. Vis-a-vis, those "island" mammoths were what I like to call small.
Mass killings? Meteorite? Glacial retreat? Biological warfare? Duhn duhn duhn DUUUHHHHHNNNN. Woollys (or is it Woollies) lived as long as 8,000BC in Eurasia, 3,750BC in parts of North America. The lil' guys on Wrangel Island lived until 1,650BC. Around 6,000BC the Columbians said hello to their little friend. Not the Wrangel Island little friends. Because that wold just be weird. And implausible. But what oh what killed them? Old age? Freak accident or mere coincidence? Yes. Sure. I mean, why not? The fact is there is no real agreed upon explanation.In some areas, there were a mass collection of mammoth remains leading to a theory that humans were hunting the mammoths in such a manner that sometimes forced them to fall off a cliff to their deaths and subsequently became a rich meal. It's not as though humans didn't hunt them, but it's unlikely that they were the sole cause of their extinction. Habitat change would have been, if nothing else, another contributing factor. The glaciers were receding. Grasslands became woodlands. Seeing as mammoths love them some herbs, they wouldn't have fared so well. And because it happened at a somewhat fast pace, the mammoths didn't really have enough time to learn to like and live off of bark and pine needles. Others speculate that there was a mass infection. What's most likely is that a number of factors lead to their end. With the habitat changing, mammoths weren't able to sustain a very healthy life and a large population wouldn't have been able to survive, so their numbers would have dwindled. Maybe this left them vulnerable to more diseases, or a specific disease. Add in the fact that mammoths general gestation period was probably just under two years and then on top of that there's this new animal that stands on two legs and is really small, but fuck does it know how to kill.
Seeing as this beauty is extinct, it kinda begs the question: how could we possibly know that much? Well, Wikipedia doesn't hurt. And lest we forget a small, yet noteworthy reason: real bodies. Yes. Seriously. The great thing about Siberia is it makes for perfect mammoth carcasses. Sometimes mammoths would get caught in a sinkhole or the like, it would be frozen in a layer of permafrost (below freezing for more than 2 weeks) which would preserve the body. Some even had food in their stomachs.
The mammoth is just one of billions of species gone extinct. In fact, about 99.9% of all life that ever lived is now extinct. To try and comprehend what that means in terms of how the hell things worked out the way they did throughout the evolution of life and how humans came to be from all that is, well, frankly, overwhelming. And at the very same time, hopelessly interesting.
