Scientists now believe a sudden event caused the extinction of the last woolly mammoths. These mammoths became isolated on Wrangel Island after the ice age ended. A new study analyzed mammoth genomes from this remote Siberian location. Researchers propose disease or environmental change killed the isolated population. This research offers a departure from previous extinction hypotheses.

Scientists now believe a sudden event caused the extinction of the last woolly mammoths. These mammoths became isolated on Wrangel Island after the ice age ended. A new study…

For years, the disappearance of the last woolly mammoths seemed to have a straightforward explanation. A tiny population became isolated, interbred for thousands of years and…