Mammoth tusks allow us to conclude that the animal “flew around the world almost twice” in its lifetime

Posted:

14 before 2021 03:03 GMT

For the first time, the study of fossil remains provides information about the distance traveled by a sample of these mystical remains.

Isotopic analysis of the different layers of mammoth tusks has made it possible to determine the kilometers a specimen of this species traveled over its lifetime about 17,100 years ago.

The researchers concluded that the animal lived approximately 28 years during the last Ice Age, and that during those three decades it traveled roughly the distance of “circling the planet approximately twice,” according to the Communicates University of Alaska at Fairbanks. To find out, the international team responsible for the study Sampling of a 1.7-meter tusk in 400,000 fragments and subjected them to microscopic analysis.

pedigree Isotopes of the elements strontium and oxygen That can be traced to the annual rings of tusks, similar to tree rings, were combined with maps that predicted differences in these same isotopes in different places in Alaska.

Prior to this study, paleontologists knew very little about mammoths’ life, diet, and movements, and only this particular specimen was known to have died in northern Alaska, outside the Arctic Circle. However, the modeling carried out by these scientists provides the first evidence that these snakes They can walk a lot.

Matthew Waller, a paleoclimatologist and lead author of the paper, Posted in Science On August 13th, they confirm that they are not clear whether mammoths have migrated according to the seasons, but they do. Covered great distances. “He’s visited many parts of Alaska at some point in his life, which is pretty amazing when you consider the size of this area.”

In Canine, the team found an unbeatable chronological record of the life of this extinct species. From the moment they are born until the day they die, They have diaries written on their fangss “, composite paleontologist Patrick Druckenmiller, director of the University of the North Museum, in whose collection this specimen was found.” Mother Nature does not usually provide such comfortable and permanent records of an individual’s life,” he added.

DNA preserved in canine tissue provided additional data for this analysis and allowed the animal to be identified as a male related to the last group of its kind that lived on mainland Alaska.

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