New research study recommends that environment change is the most likely perpetrator in the demise of ancient mammoths, mastodons and early elephants rather than overhunting by early humans at the end of the last Ice Age.Waves of extreme global environment change chipped away at the proboscideans over time, eventually triggering many of them to go extinct in different parts of the world between 2 million and about 75,000 years ago, the researchers said.” We discovered that the environmental diversity of proboscideans increased dramatically when they dispersed from Africa to Eurasia 20 million years earlier and to North America 16 million years back, when land connections in between these continents formed,” said Juha Saarinen, study coauthor and postdoctoral researcher in the department of geosciences and location at the University of Helsinki.While variety initially increased after these events, that began to fall between 3 and 6 million years back as the international environment cooled. “As if we required more encouragement to discover and explain more fossil proboscideans,” Widga said.The study authors note that overhunting by humans “might have served as a last double jeopardy” after proboscideans already suffered extreme, changing climates long before.

New research suggests that climate modification is the most likely perpetrator in the demise of prehistoric mammoths, mastodons and early elephants rather than overhunting by early human beings at the end of the last Ice Age.Waves of extreme worldwide environment modification chipped away at the proboscideans over time, ultimately triggering many of them to go extinct in various parts of the world in between 2 million and about 75,000 years back, the researchers stated. “Remarkably for 30 million years, the whole first half of proboscidean evolution, only two of the 8 groups developed,” said Zhang Hanwen, research study coauthor and Honorary Research Associate at the University of Bristols School of Earth Sciences, in a statement.” We found that the eco-friendly variety of proboscideans increased drastically as soon as they distributed from Africa to Eurasia 20 million years ago and to North America 16 million years back, when land connections in between these continents formed,” said Juha Saarinen, research study coauthor and postdoctoral scientist in the department of geosciences and location at the University of Helsinki.While diversity initially increased after these occasions, that began to fall in between 3 and 6 million years back as the worldwide environment cooled. The extinction peaks for proboscideans started around 2.4 million, 160,000 and 75,000 years ago for Africa, Eurasia and the Americas, respectively, according to the scientists. “As if we required more encouragement to discover and explain more fossil proboscideans,” Widga said.The study authors keep in mind that overhunting by human beings “may have served as a last double jeopardy” after proboscideans already suffered extreme, changing environments long before.