Mammoth demise down to man
Source: Agencies |
November 28, 2010, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
DURING the last Ice Age, shaggy mammoths, woolly rhinos and bison lumbered across northern Siberia. Then, about 10,000 years ago - in the span of a geological heartbeat, or a few hundred years - the last of them disappeared.
Many scientists believe a dramatic shift in climate drove these giant grazers to extinction.
However, two scientists who live year-round in the frigid Siberian plains have said that man - either for food, fuel or fun - hunted the animals to extinction.
Paleontologists have been arguing for decades over how these animals met their sudden demise. The most persuasive theories say it was humanity and nature: Dramatically warming temperatures caused a changing habitat and brought a migration of men armed with deep-piercing spears.
No one knows for sure what set off global warming back then - perhaps solar activity or a slight shift in the Earth's orbit. But, in an echo of the global warming debate today, Sergey Zimov, director of the internationally funded Northeast Science Station, and his son Nikita say man was the real agent of change.
For the Siberian grasses to provide nutrition in winter, they needed to be grazed in summer to produce fresh shoots in autumn. The hooves of millions of reindeer, elk and moose as well as the larger beasts also trampled choking moss, while their waste promoted the blossoming of summer meadows.
As the ice retreated at the end of the Pleistocene era it cleared the way for man's expansion into previously inaccessible lands, like this area bordering the East Siberia Sea.
Northeastern Siberia, today one of the coldest and most formidable spots on the planet, was dry and free of glaciers. The ground grew thick with fine layers of dust and decaying plant life, generating rich pastures during the brief summers.
When humans arrived they hunted not only for food, but for the fat that kept the northern animals insulated against the subzero cold, which the hunters burned for fuel, say the scientists.
Many scientists believe a dramatic shift in climate drove these giant grazers to extinction.
However, two scientists who live year-round in the frigid Siberian plains have said that man - either for food, fuel or fun - hunted the animals to extinction.
Paleontologists have been arguing for decades over how these animals met their sudden demise. The most persuasive theories say it was humanity and nature: Dramatically warming temperatures caused a changing habitat and brought a migration of men armed with deep-piercing spears.
No one knows for sure what set off global warming back then - perhaps solar activity or a slight shift in the Earth's orbit. But, in an echo of the global warming debate today, Sergey Zimov, director of the internationally funded Northeast Science Station, and his son Nikita say man was the real agent of change.
For the Siberian grasses to provide nutrition in winter, they needed to be grazed in summer to produce fresh shoots in autumn. The hooves of millions of reindeer, elk and moose as well as the larger beasts also trampled choking moss, while their waste promoted the blossoming of summer meadows.
As the ice retreated at the end of the Pleistocene era it cleared the way for man's expansion into previously inaccessible lands, like this area bordering the East Siberia Sea.
Northeastern Siberia, today one of the coldest and most formidable spots on the planet, was dry and free of glaciers. The ground grew thick with fine layers of dust and decaying plant life, generating rich pastures during the brief summers.
When humans arrived they hunted not only for food, but for the fat that kept the northern animals insulated against the subzero cold, which the hunters burned for fuel, say the scientists.
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