Last woolly mammoths died on remote Arctic island just 4,000 years ago – after being cut off from mainland by rising seas
THE last woolly mammoths ever to roam Earth died out on a remote Arctic island nearly 90 miles from the mainland.
Experts believe that they died out quickly around 4,000 years ago, after being cut off from Russia's icy north – around 11,000 years after the rest of their species perished.
Around 100,000 to 15,000 years ago, woolly mammoths were widespread across the northern hemisphere.
They roamed from Alaska to as far south as Spain, but their huge habitat was eventually devastated by global warming.
Now experts believe that the last remaining cohort of woolly mammoths survived on Wrangel Island off the coast of Russia.
It's believed that they were cut off from the mainland by rising sea levels.
Researchers examined mammoth bones and teeth from Northern Siberia, Alaska, the Yukon and Wrangel Island, a small isle just 78 miles wide.
These materials ranged in age between 40,000 and 4,000 years old.
And experts also discovered that the diet and environment of Wrangel Island mammoths didn't change before they disappeared – suggesting they withstood the warming climate that wiped out their brothers and sisters.
This is different to woolly mammoths from Ukraine, Russia and Alaska, whose remains all showed signs of environmental change before they became extinct.
Woolly mammoth – the key facts
Here's what you need to know...
- The woolly mammoth is an ancient creature that is now extinct
- The species first "diverged" from the steppe mammoth around 400,000 years ago in East Asia
- Its closest living relative today is the Asian elephant
- Woolly mammoths are one of the best-studied prehistoric animal, due to the discovery of frozen carcasses in Siberia and Alaska
- We also have evidence of them in the form of skeletons, teeth, droppings and cave paintings
- A woolly mammoth was similarly sized to a modern African elephant
- Males typically reached up to 11.2 feet in shoulder height, and weighted up to 6 metric tons
- Females were smaller at 9.5 feet and 4 metric tons
- A newborn calf weighed around 90 kilos, or 200 lb
- Woolly mammoths were well-adapted to the frosty temperatures of the last ice age, thanks to its fur coat
- They largely disappeared from the mailand around 10,000 years ago, thanks to the warming climate and the shrinking of its habitat
- Isolated populations survived on St Paul Island until 5,600 years ago, and then on Wrangel Island until as recently as 4,000 years ago
An extreme weather event is now being blamed for their speedy wipe-out.
One possibility is rain on snow, creating a thick layer of ground ice that stopped the animals from finding enough food.
This would've have been devastating when combined with their isolated habitat, with the mammoths unable to migrate away in search of better food sources.
Scientists think this may have led to a large population decline and eventually extinction.
"It's easy to imagine that the population, perhaps already weakened by genetic deterioration and drinking water quality issues, could have succumbed after something like an extreme weather event," said Professor Hervé Bocherens, of the University of Tübingen, who co-authored the study published in the Quaternary Science Reviews.
It's also possible that humans may have helped to wipe out the mammoths.
There is evidence of humans on Wrangel Island just a few hundred years after the most recent mammoth bone.
Researchers are hoping to find evidence that humans hunted Wrangel Island mammoths, but say it's an unlikely discovery.
However they haven't ruled out humans contributing to woolly mammoth extinction on the isle.
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In other news, road workers recently uncovered the remains of a 130,000 year woolly mammoth under the A14.
Scientists hope to resurrect woolly mammoths in Siberia.
And a five-foot mammoth tusk was recently dug up alongside an ancient camel and a "giant wolf" in Mexico.
Which extinct creature would you most like to see brought back to life? Let us know in the comments!
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