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And yet, for some reason, ancient humans decided not to eat all the elephants. No, it was climate change. The last, small population of mammoths that survived
by codexb 3y ago
And yet, for some reason, ancient humans decided not to eat all the elephants.
No, it was climate change.
The last, small population of mammoths that survived until 4000 years ago on Wrangel Island never came in contact with humans. They died because they were ill suited for the climate they lived in.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- ceejayoz 3y agoHumans got rid of plenty of elephants. "Both" is likely the answer in all of these extinction events. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7548514 https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7548514 > One million years ago, elephants and their cousins roamed the five major continents of the earth. Then humans came along. Today elephants can be found only in portions of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. > The two most argued hypotheses for their decline are climatic changes and over-hunting by humans. A recent archaeological expedition dug up information that may support the latter. > Exploring 41 sites ranging from 1.8 million to 10,000 years old, Todd Surovell of the University of Wyoming found that interactions between humans and elephants matched up with successive waves of human population expansion. As the human populations in those sites continued to grow, the number of elephants shrank and, in some sites, disappeared.
- myshpa 3y ago> ancient humans decided not to eat all the elephants Who knows why? Larger size, slower reproductive rates, and adaptations to colder climates? Maybe elephants were more socially organized and were harder to hunt? Maybe their habitats were not so densely populated by humans? We can only speculate. > No, it was climate change. While climate change certainly played a role, it's undeniable that the QME would not have been as extensive if it weren't for human involvement. > never came in contact with humans That's not clear, iirc.
- actionfromafar 3y agoElephants and humans must have evolved together, that could have helped the elephants.
- stonetrw 3y agoYou do realize that the majority of elephant species are extinct and the ones left have less than a fraction of their historic range?