Mammoth's Bad 'Mineral Diet' May Have Caused Their Extinction

Mammoths may have actually survived into present day were it not for their bad "mineral diet." Scientists have found that mammoths experienced chronic mineral hunger due to a background of deep abiotic changes in ecosystems.

Researchers around the world have long tried to find out the causes of extinction for mammoths. There are actually two main theories as to why they went extinct. The first is that changes in microclimate and anthropogenic pressure and possible the simultaneous effect of both factors caused these mammals to go extinct. The other theories include infectious diseases or a comet or asteroid impact caused the decline of these mammoths.

Remains of late mammoths actually show signs of skeletal diseases such as osteoporosis, osteofibrosis, osteomalacia, arthrosis and other joint diseases. In fact, articular surface of extremity bones of some individuals are not only harmed, but are also damaged and mutilated by these diseases.

These diseases actually resulted in high traumatism of the animals. They received sprains and fractures even at very low loads. Mammoths with broken limbs or spine could not eat food in sufficient quantities and could not follow the herd-and were thus hunted and culled by predators.

Many animals actually use "salt licks" or "mineral licks" in order to supplement their diets. In fact, animals eat soil and rocks and drink mineralized water from springs to maintain homeostasis. Most of these chemical elements are vital for animals to retain health condition of their skeleton, muscles, skin, hair and others.

So what does this mean? If mammoths experienced mineral starvation, then they would experience bone diseases and other health issues. Since about 90 percent of specimens found had these diseases, researchers believe that mineral starvation was one of the main causes of their decline.

"It is highly probably that this severe natural condition lasted for more than 15 thousand years and may have proven fatal for the largest representative of the terrestrial fauna at high latitudes," said Sergey Leschinskiy, one of the researchers, in a news release. "The wool lyrhinoceros and cave bear may have suffered the same fate."

The findings are published in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences.

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