Humans have accelerated the extinction of mammoths

An international team of scientists led by researchers from the University of Adelaide and the University of Copenhagen revealed the path of mammoths to extinction in 20,000 years

"Our research shows that humans are a key and long-term driver of the decline in the number of mammoths, and they play a vital role in the time and place of their extinction," said Dami, lead author of the Institute of Environmental Studies at the University of Adelaide.

"Through computer models, fossils and ancient DNA, we have identified the indispensable mechanisms and threats in the initial decline and subsequent extinction of mammoths

The characteristics of the past distribution and demographic changes of mammoths discovered from fossils and ancient DNA indicate that in some areas, humans have accelerated the extinction of mammoths for 4,000 years

"We know that humans use mammoths to obtain meat, skin, bones, and ivory

This study also shows that mammoths may live in the Arctic for thousands of years longer than previously thought.

Jeremy Austin, associate professor at the Australian Center for Ancient DNA Research at the University of Adelaide, said: "Our long-standing discoveries in Eurasia independently confirm the recently published environmental DNA evidence that mammoths lived 5,000 years ago.

David Nogues-Bravo, an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen, is a co-author of the study published in the journal Ecology Letters

He said: "Our analysis strengthens and better solves the problem that human influence is the driving factor for the decline and range collapse of megafauna in Eurasia during the Late Pleistocene

"This also refutes a popular theory that climate change has led to a sharp decline in the number of mammoths, and the role of mankind is limited to the grace coup brought by hunters

"It also shows that species extinctions are usually the result of complex interactions between threatening processes

Researchers emphasize that the road to extinction of mammoths is long and lasting, starting several thousand years before the last extinction event