September 18, 2024 report
New evidence suggests allergies were partly to blame for demise of woolly mammoth
A team of chemists and zoologists from Israel, Italy and Russia, has found evidence suggesting that part of the reason woolly mammoths went extinct was the onset of allergies that made it difficult for them to find mates.
In their paper in the journal Earth History and Biodiversity, the group describes how they found antibodies and allergens in tissue samples of frozen mammoths that suggest the large animals may have had difficulty in finding mates due to loss of smell.
Prior research has shown that woolly mammoths, relatives of modern elephants, once lived in parts of North America, Asia and northern parts of Europe. They went extinct approximately 4,000 years ago. Studies looking into their demise suggest it was a likely combination of climate change and hunting by humans.
In this new study, the research team suggests another possible cause; allergies to pollen that led to stuffed up noses, making it difficult for the mammoths to smell things, such as potential mates. The researchers note that the sense of smell is very important to modern elephants; without it, elephants would find it difficult to locate food and water, and potential mates.
To learn more about the ancient creatures, the research team obtained and studied multiple tissue samples from frozen mammoths found in Siberia. They found evidence of antibodies that had been deployed to fight off infections. They also found organic compounds consistent with pollen that would have been mixed in with the air the mammoths were breathing.
The researchers suggest that together, the two finds suggest that the mammoths were suffering from allergies. Such allergies, they further note, would have made it very difficult to find food, water and potential mates.
The research team also notes that the extinction of the woolly mammoth came during a time when the planet was growing warmer, allowing plants to grow in places where the mammoths lived that they had not grown in before鈥攑lants that would have released pollen into the air, possibly giving the animals that lived there breathing and smelling problems.
They suggest that the evidence they found hints at the possibility of allergies as a third cause of the demise of the woolly mammoth.
More information: Gleb Zilberstein et al, Sense of smell reduction as factor for mammoth's and other mammals extinction. Immunoglobulins as possible markers, Earth History and Biodiversity (2024).
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