Paleontologists have found the cause of death of the mammoths on St. Paul Island – BBC News

One of the last known to us populations of woolly mammoths existed at St. Paul’s island near Alaska, disappeared from the face of the earth five and a half thousand years ago.

Only able to now the team of scientists to establish the exact date, using three research method:. radiocarbon analysis found animal bones, the study of DNA fragments of mammoths found in sediment samples, as well as the study of sediment samples from the bottom of one of the few freshwater lakes of the island

also, for a long time remained a mystery what caused animal deaths. Some experts suggested that they completely destroyed the people. But now researchers at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks found that huge animals died due to lack of fresh water.

The population of woolly mammoths inhabited St. Paul Island (most likely one of the last in the world), felt comfortable enough for several thousand years. There have been people who could hunt animals: the man appeared in this area only in the eighteenth century. In addition, the island has been a large amount of fresh water, as well as quite a lot of food.

Note that most woolly mammoths became extinct about 10,500 years ago. The reason was a lot of factors, the main – climate change, as well as hunting. However, a group of mammoths that lived on the island of St. Paul’s, was able to survive for five thousand years longer. In this regard, the researchers suggested that the animals on the island are faced with another threat.

All the fault proved to changes in the environment (by the way, is strikingly similar to those that occur today).

As soon as the can increase the climate after the Ice Age, the sea level began to rise consequence of warming. This led to the fact that the island – home mammoths – began to shrink in size, and salt water is increasingly fell into freshwater lakes, which made them unsuitable for their thirst

In addition, the giant animals are literally trapped. as the isthmus that connected Alaska and Eurasia, flooded with water, and find a new home with a sufficient amount of fresh water they could not.

An additional problem consisted in the reduction of power resources. Since the freshwater lakes were less common, more and more animals began to use them. “They crowded around the same sources, which destroyed the vegetation A similar phenomenon can be observed in modern elephants.” -. Says study author Professor Russell Graham (Russell Graham) from Pennsylvania State University

According to him, , modern elephants must be from 70 to 200 liters of water per day. “We suggest that mammoths were required not less than such a large amount of water needed to animals, could also lead to rapid depletion of lakes.” – Professor notes

According to the researchers, the scientific work is the most accurate description of the events. that led to the extinction of mammoths. And besides, it shows clearly that current climate change could have a similar impact on the residents of small islands.

We add that the latest in the world a group of mammoths lived on large Wrangel Island and disappeared from the face of the planet about 4000 years ago. However, until now unknown, that was the reason. Now researchers hope to discover and this mystery.

The scientific article published in the edition of paleontologists Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.