In the arctic tundra of northeastern Siberia lies a graveyard of a now-extinct species of megafauna, the woolly rhinoceros, dating back 50,000 years. Now, a new genomic analysis of the remains of 14 of these fantastical furry yellow creatures shows that climate change was the likely culprit for their disappearance—not hunting by migrating humans, as scientists had assumed.
“We can say that climate probably did have a huge role in the extinction and decline of woolly rhinoceros,” said paleogeneticist Edana Lord of Stockholm University and the Swedish Museum of Natural History, lead author of the recent study in Current Biology. However, Lord and her colleagues cannot rule out human activity as a contributing factor in the rhinos’ final years.
https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...0/11/why-did-the-woolly-rhino-go-extinct/amp/
“We can say that climate probably did have a huge role in the extinction and decline of woolly rhinoceros,” said paleogeneticist Edana Lord of Stockholm University and the Swedish Museum of Natural History, lead author of the recent study in Current Biology. However, Lord and her colleagues cannot rule out human activity as a contributing factor in the rhinos’ final years.
https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...0/11/why-did-the-woolly-rhino-go-extinct/amp/