So, why did the mammoths REALLY go extinct?

Posted on June 8, 2007 by | 1 Comment

A paper in press in Current Biology (press release here) looks at mitochondrial DNA of mammoths and advances a primarily environmental cause for the mammoth extinction. Razib explains why such a black-and-white dichotomy is unhealthy.
Looking at a different hypothesis, also environmental, for the mammoth extinction (comet impact), Archy places the black-and-white dichotomy in the historical context and tries to figure out why the environmental hypotheses are so popular nowadays, while extinction at the hands of human hunters is not a popular idea any more.

This entry was posted in Environment, Evolution, History of Science, Paleontology, Science Practice. Bookmark the permalink.

One response to “So, why did the mammoths REALLY go extinct?”

  1. Martin R's avatar Martin R | June 8, 2007 at 4:39 am |

    Misread the headline: “So, did the mammoths REALLY go extinct?”, thought “woah”.