Verdict

So what did cause the extinction of the mammoths? With the climate deteriorating around them, food getting harder to find, and populations steadily dwindling, should the mammoths have survived into the Holocene? Was humankind's predation enough to push them past the edge of their endurance? In light of this remarkable genus' ability to survive the ebb and flow of glacial episodes through past time, the probable answer to the above questions is a simple "yes". If not for the rise of human beings, the mighty mammoths would probably still roam the world today.

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