Science & Technology
It appears that woolly mammoths and today's young males have at least one thing in common - without their moms, they were destined to wander the world alone before succumbing to an accidental death.
Many of the clueless young male mammoths got themselves into risky situations, and were swept into rivers, or fell through ice or bogs where they remained until scientists found them thousands of years later. That's according to research published Thursday in the journal Current Biology.
"Without the benefit of living in a herd led by an experienced female, male mammoths may have had a higher risk of dying in natural traps such as bogs, crevices, and lakes," study author Love Dalen said in a press release.
"It is highly likely that the remains that are found in Siberia these days have been preserved because they have been buried, and thus protected from weathering. The new findings imply that male mammoths more often died in a way that meant their remains were buried, perhaps by falling through lake ice in winter or getting stuck in bogs," he added.
Correspondingly female mammoths got on just fine without their male counterparts, as they were led by an older matriarch who was quite at home in her terrain and steered her herd away from treacherous areas.
Scientists used genomic data to determine the sex of 98 woolly mammoth fossils found in the frozen hinterland of Siberia and discovered that 69% of them were male.
"We were very surprised because there was no reason to expect a sex bias in the fossil record," researcher Patricia Pecnerova said.
Giant woolly mammoths disappeared around 4,000 years ago as the climate warmed and they increasingly became targets for human hunters.
Comment: For a fascinating discussion on woolly mammoths and what happened to them, read Pierre Lescaudron's article Of Flash Frozen Mammoths and Cosmic Catastrophes.
Reader Comments
However, I was with yours.
R.C.
* A perfect example of 'sarcasm as the last refuge of the weak mind and defeated wit. (Dostoyevsky)
RC
Many of the clueless young male mammoths got themselves into risky situations, and were swept into rivers, or fell through ice or bogs where they remained until scientists found them thousands of years laterMany clueless scientists find a few bones, get swept into rivers of their own delusion and make incredible presumptions
They're pretty screwed whilst they cannot base their findings on what really happened
I got a wetsuit... does that count? LOL
My very personal one way down bottom....
Life is too short not to get the last laugh: 25 hilarious headstones
I hate to break it to you, but we're all going to kick the bucket one day. These people were aware of that fact and decided to get the last laugh and have it carved in stone (or marble, but let's...[Link]
In some cases, though, wartime is associated with a higher share of girl babies. This may relate to the fact that heightened maternal stress, such as would occur during wartime, can lead to an increased likelihood of a miscarriage which is more likely to occur among male fetuses.
Quite the research though.... interesting! ..many factors involved. Anyways i m back to my read.
Now i also know what Kevlar is
I ve found more. It s stated, Baby Boys are more vulnerable at the start and finish lines whereas the Baby Girls, somewhere in between.
This data showed that male embryos were more likely to be abnormal and that many of these embryos die a week or two after conception, meaning that early on, pregnancies may become slightly biased towards females.
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