Mammoth Extinction

The extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna is a heavily debated topic, was it over hunting by man or was it climate change? We now have the answer thanks to the University of Adelaide.

By analysing ancient DNA, using radiocarbon dating and other geologic analysis methods, the University of Adelaide has shown that short rapid warming events, known as interstadials, experienced during the past ice age at the end of the Pleistocene coincided with major extinction events even before man became dominant.

Professor Alan Cooper says that "abrupt warming had a profound impact on climate that caused marked shifts in global rainfall and vegetation patterns". It was therefore sudden warming not extreme cold that killed the Woolly Mammoths in Eurasia.

However, Professor Chris Turney believes that "man still played an important role in the disappearance of megafauna".

The culminating factors of rapid warming and the constant pursuit of man pushed the Mammoth's over the edge as they were already under extreme stress with a lack of tundra shrubs and grasses available as the ice retreated further north, this would have lowered reproduction success and limited the sizes of the herds as the food could not support the animals.

Let me know what you think of this, do you think the Mammoth's extinction was a result of the rapid warming of the climate or did early man hunt the Mammoths to the point of extinction?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150723181113.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ffossils_ruins%2Fpaleontology+%28Paleontology+News+--+ScienceDaily%29