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Palaeontology

Woolly mammoth hunters helped change climate

By T.K. Randall
July 17, 2010 · Comment icon 30 comments

Image Credit: Rama
Early hunters may have helped bring about global warming by hunting woolly mammoths thousands of years ago.
The demise of the leaf-chomping woolly mammoths contributed to a proliferation of dwarf birch trees in and around the Arctic, darkening a largely barren, reflective landscape and accelerating a rise in temperatures across the polar north, researchers at the Carnegie Institution for Science concluded.


Source: News Daily | Comments (30)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #21 Posted by danielost 14 years ago
Climate change brought about a change in vegetation. Climate change and change in vegetation brought about the demise of the mammoths. The demise of the mammoths brought about further vegetation change and (possibly) further climate change. Nothing's ever simple! Edit: it's what is known as a positive feedback. One thing causes something else which in turn causes the first thing to happen again/more. Like global warming causing Arctic sea ice to melt which in turn reduces Earth's albedo leading to more global warming. (btw by mammoth I mean woolly mammoth, and by demise I mean significant redu... [More]
Comment icon #22 Posted by Fluffybunny 14 years ago
http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=95439&st=0&p=1713035&hl=mammoth%20killed%20by%20comet&fromsearch=1entry1713035 There are a lot of people who think that the clovis meteor is not the case. Less than a year later substantial support for the synchronous nature of the black mat was provided by leading Clovis archaeologist, C. Vance Haynes, also in the PNAS. Says Haynes: Further analysis is in progress and other Clovis sites need independent study and verification of this evidence. Until then I remain skeptical of the ET impact hypothesis as the cause o... [More]
Comment icon #23 Posted by :PsYKoTiC:BeHAvIoR: 14 years ago
This is the second topic about mammoths relating to global warming. First is was all about their flatulance, which cows can be to blame for the same reason today. Makes no sense really. Now this article is saying by killing mammoths off, leaves were less eaten and allowed more heat absorption from the sun? Back then, Europe had much more plentiful forests, so again, it doesn't make much sense. It's almost as if modern society is trying to blame the prehistoric man for today's green house problem. Unfortunately, that won't fix the issue.
Comment icon #24 Posted by danielost 14 years ago
This is the second topic about mammoths relating to global warming. First is was all about their flatulance, which cows can be to blame for the same reason today. Makes no sense really. Now this article is saying by killing mammoths off, leaves were less eaten and allowed more heat absorption from the sun? Back then, Europe had much more plentiful forests, so again, it doesn't make much sense. It's almost as if modern society is trying to blame the prehistoric man for today's green house problem. Unfortunately, that won't fix the issue. take out the word prehistoric.
Comment icon #25 Posted by Paracelse 14 years ago
Couldn't think of any reason why they would die with food in their mouth tbh =/ Some were found in Siberia frozen solid (some were used as food) with food in the mouth and stomach... buttercups to be exact
Comment icon #26 Posted by Drev 14 years ago
Sound like they got frozen almost instantly
Comment icon #27 Posted by Siara 14 years ago
It seems to me that the problem with climate change is that there are simply too many humans on the earth. If a caveman caused climate change by hunting mammoth- so what? There were only around 100,000 humans on earth back then. The changes that other species made compensated for the change humans made. It's true that we have a bigger "carbon footprint" now then our ancestors. But if today's population equaled the population during the stone age it wouldn't be a problem. The problem is that the higher the population is the more careful we have to be. And as a species we don't seem to be up to ... [More]
Comment icon #28 Posted by danielost 14 years ago
It seems to me that the problem with climate change is that there are simply too many humans on the earth. If a caveman caused climate change by hunting mammoth- so what? There were only around 100,000 humans on earth back then. The changes that other species made compensated for the change humans made. It's true that we have a bigger "carbon footprint" now then our ancestors. But if today's population equaled the population during the stone age it wouldn't be a problem. The problem is that the higher the population is the more careful we have to be. And as a species we don't seem to be up to ... [More]
Comment icon #29 Posted by OverSword 14 years ago
My great-grandmother related a story to me that took place when she lived in Alaska during the gold rush. They would use pressurized water to erode glaciers and thaw out frozen ground. Every once in a while they would wash out a mammoth corpse which would start rotting soon after being exposed to the air and foul the air for miles around. Incorporate that small bit of trivia into your theories. It doesn't really sound like they were hunted to death or starved to death. Sounds more like they froze to death. Sorry if this is rambling I went to lunch with a client who started buying drinks so I w... [More]
Comment icon #30 Posted by TopCatEric 14 years ago
Once again Greedpeace people looking for exscuses.


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