Woolly mammoths died out because of thirsty caused by the deficit of water. The climate shifts on St. Paul Island and drier conditions resulted in the dying out of those big animals, explains the publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports.
The paleontologists from Pennsylvania State University have researched the possible reasons of dying out the wooly mammoth. The most reasonable version is climate changing, which led to the to the shallow lakes, decreasing the rainfall volumes and frequency, and an overall lack of freshwater. With no water, the wooly mammoths began to die out because of thirsty.
According to the researchers’ explanations, small St. Paul Island was once a part of the Bering Land Bridge that connected Asia and North America. About 6,000 years ago this island with plenty of water and no predators was just a paradise for the animals, among them, were mammoths too.
The scientists have found ancient DNA and fungal spores on the island, they were analyzed. About 5,600 years ago the sea level started to rise and substitute the resource with freshwater by salty one. The mammoths couldn’t drink it, their populations began to decrease and then has died out at all because of thirsty.
