Woolly mammoths died out due to climate change
Experts claim humans didn't hunt woolly mammoths into extinction, but that the hairy giants died out because of climate change.It had been thought the last woolly mammoths died out 4,000 years ago after years of over hunting by pre-historic humans and retreating to northern Siberia.
But now scientists from Durham University claim their demise was more to do with rising temperatures and loss of vegetation it lived on.
They claim that at the end of the ice age, the grasslands woolly mammoths lived on were replaced by forests as carbon dioxide levels increased.
This left the mammoths with nothing to eat and means trees effectively killed them off… why couldn't they just leaf them alone?
After running a series of computer simulations, Professor Brian Huntley said: "What our results have suggested is that the changing climate, through the effect it had on vegetation, was the key thing that caused the reduction in the population and ultimate extinction of mammoths and many other large herbivores.
"During the height of the ice age, mammoths and other large herbivores would have had more food to eat.
"But as we shifted into the post-glacial stage, trees gradually displaced those herbaceous ecosystems and that much reduced their grazing area."
LINKS
Durham University
"During the height of the ice age, mammoths and other large herbivores would have had more food to eat.
"But as we shifted into the post-glacial stage, trees gradually displaced those herbaceous ecosystems and that much reduced their grazing area."
LINKS
Durham University
