Dying for a drink: Thirst killed last of the mammoths, study finds
While humans hunted the woolly mammoth to extinction, an isolated island off Alaska housed a population that outlived their mainland family by 5,000 years. Thirst likely led to the eventual extinction of the St. Paul Island mammoths, however.
Baffled by what killed off the species on the island after such an extended period, a new study from the University of Alaska Fairbanks has pinned their decline 5,600 years ago to a lack of freshwater resources.
Cause and timing of #mammoth#extinction on St Paul's Island (Alaska) by Russell Graham and team in PNAS https://t.co/miyxPY5z63
— Alexandra vanderGeer (@IslandEvolution) August 1, 2016
The island, situated between Russia and the US and without rivers or springs, experienced dry conditions and rising sea levels leading to the depletion of freshwater sources and salt water seeping into the little supply left, according to the study.
Scientists have been without an answer for the mammoths’ decline for years as humans did not arrive on St. Paul Island until 1787, long after they were gone. Food sources are also believed to have been plentiful with no evidence of any volcanic activity.
Mammoth step forward? Scientists splice Woolly DNA into elephant cells http://t.co/Bs5gGZnxDppic.twitter.com/kIhb7G6G4O
— RT (@RT_com) March 23, 2015
By examining the microbes and isotopes in sediment cores found near freshwater sources at the time, the study believes that water supplies were getting shallower and saltier as sea levels rose. St. Paul Island was part of a land bridge connecting Russia and the US until rising sea levels cut if off from land.
Routine digging: US farmer stumbles upon 15,000yo mammoth skeleton, donates it to university http://t.co/6TwAVIQkgrpic.twitter.com/Lsn0YNqUA5
— RT (@RT_com) October 7, 2015
As the mammoths battled rising temperatures and reduced landmass, the study states that “degradation of water quality by intensified mammoth activity around the lake likely exacerbated the situation.”
The aptly-named Dr. Matthew Wooller, who was involved in the study, told the Telegraph that “it paints a dire picture of the situation for these mammoths.”
“Freshwater resources look like the smoking gun for what pushed them into this untenable situation," Wooller said.
The University of Maine’s Jacquelyn Gill worryingly warned the Atlantic that rising sea levels and reduction in space is also a “likely model for extinction in the near future.”
READ MORE: Mammoth hunt shows humans active in Arctic 45,000yrs ago – Russian scientists
