How much did hunting by prehistoric humans influence the extinction of mastodons and mammoths?

UngulateNerd92

UngulateNerd92

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The primitive appearance of elephants transports us to an ancient and idyllic world that has remained unchanged for millions of years. But these pachyderms are not the guardians of a world that came pristine to our ancestors, but only the survivors of the great collapse that their lineage, the Proboscideans, has suffered during the last three million years. To get an idea of the magnitude of the decline of the proboscideans, it is enough to make a simple comparison: today there are only three species of elephants (the African savanna elephant, the African forest elephant and the Asian elephant), and yet, thanks to the fossils we know that there were almost 200 species in the past (some emblematic such as the mammoth, mastodons, deinotheria, etc.).

Only three million years ago – the Earth has more than 4,500 – more than 30 species of proboscideans lived on our planet, living in Africa and Asia, but also in Europe, North and South America. And, most surprisingly, it was not difficult to find sites where two or three species of these giants coexisted at the same time. Some of our oldest ancestors, such as Australopithecus, came to witness this abundance. Today, more than 98% of all that diversity has disappeared. What happened?

How much did hunting by prehistoric humans influence the extinction of mastodons and mammoths? | Science - Digis Mak
 
Thanks for sharing !

This is fascinating reading !

I think that we often look at our impact on biodiversity today and modern day Asian and African elephants as a reference and attribute the extinction of the mammoths to our ancient ancestors.

But as the article highlights hunting by human hunter-gatherer groups was only a contributing stressor to species which were already on a downward trajectory to extinction due to environmental changes from natural climate change.
 
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Here is another relevant article

Climate change started decline of ancient elephants - not humans, study says

‘Remarkably for 30 million years, the entire first half of proboscidean evolution, only two of the eight groups evolved,’ researcher says

Prehistoric elephants were pushed to extinction by extreme global environmental change rather than being over-hunted by early humans, according to a study.

The research indicates that the extinction of the last mammoths and mastodonts at the end of the last Ice Age was the final part of progressive climate-driven decline among elephants over millions of years.

https://www-independent-co-uk.cdn.a...phants-not-human-study-says-b1876421.html?amp
 
Here is another relevant article.

Climate, not cavemen, did for early elephants

Some 700,000 years ago, Britain was a home to giants. Two species of mammoths lumbered across the landscape, as did the straight-tusked elephant, one of the largest mammals ever to have roamed the Earth.

It has been argued that these creatures no longer exist because a deadly predator arrived on the scene: humans. But a new analysis of elephant evolution paints a different picture.

Climate, not cavemen, did for early elephants | News | The Times
 
Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
@UngulateNerd92 what are your thoughts on this subject?
Click to expand...

I know this doesn't sound like much of an answer, but at this point my thoughts are whatever the scientific consensus is. I will say that my original hypothesis has been that it was a combination of both, but the more and more I think about it, including knowing what I have studied about inherent human nature outside of a market/monetary economy, I would have to say climate change was a bigger factor, knowing that prior to the Neolithic revolution and the advent of agriculture, humans knew how to live in a more sustainable manner. I know this is a big statement, but it is my belief and the belief of the Zeitgeist Movement that most of the problems in human society today were caused in some way by the start of the Neolithic revolution. I can send you some relevant videos and lectures touching on this theory.
 
UngulateNerd92 said:
I know this doesn't sound like much of an answer, but at this point my thoughts are whatever the scientific consensus is. I will say that my original hypothesis has been that it was a combination of both, but the more and more I think about it, including knowing what I have studied about inherent human nature outside of a market/monetary economy, I would have to say climate change was a bigger factor, knowing that prior to the Neolithic revolution and the advent of agriculture, humans knew how to live in a more sustainable manner. I know this is a big statement, but it is my belief and the belief of the Zeitgeist Movement that most of the problems in human society today were caused in some way by the start of the Neolithic revolution. I can send you some relevant videos and lectures touching on this theory.
Click to expand...

It definitely sounds like a decent answer don't worry and it's a view that I share.

I do think that the Neolithic and the development of complex societies / civilisations sustained by agriculture and livestock replaced a more ecologically sustainable system of hunter-gatherer societies.

I don't know too much about the zeitgeist theory but I would like to learn more so please do send these to me.
 
Here is another relevant article.

Modern elephants survived ancient climate change. More than 180 other species, including mastodons, didn't

The elephants we know and love today may be the ultimate survivors. While there are only three species of elephants now -- all of which are endangered and can be found across Africa and Asia -- they once belonged to a group called proboscideans that included 185 species living around the world.

In the past, researchers have blamed humans for hunting these animals to extinction thousands of years ago. But new research suggests that climate change is the likely culprit in the demise of prehistoric mammoths, mastodons and early elephants rather than overhunting by early humans at the end of the last Ice Age.

Waves of extreme global climate change chipped away at the proboscideans over time, eventually causing most of them to go extinct in different parts of the world between 2 million and about 75,000 years ago, the researchers said

Modern elephants survived ancient climate change. More than 180 other species didn't - CNN
 
I know that this article is from September of 2022, but I still thought it was interesting and worthy of posting here.

What the Demise of Mammoths Can Teach Us About Future Extinctions

Smithsonian scientist’s research illustrates how North American ecosystems are still reeling from the megafaunal extinction that closed the ice ages

The loss of any animal is an ecological travesty. No species exists in a vacuum and removing a single creature from an environment can send ripples through an entire ecosystem. But certain species leave particularly large ecological shoes to fill—especially when that animal is a 14-foot-tall mammoth.

At the end of the Pleistocene Epoch around 11,700 years ago, mammoths and many other ice age icons called megafauna went extinct for reasons that remain murky. Whether it was the arrival of humans to North America around 13,000 years ago, warming climates or (most likely) a combination of both, the magnitude of the extinction is impossible to ignore. When the dust had settled, over 65 species of large mammals had disappeared from North America.

What the Demise of Mammoths Can Teach Us About Future Extinctions
 
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