What Killed the Mammoths? Could It Have Been a Killer Plague?

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Subject:

Science and Technology

Institution Name:

American Museum of Natural History

Collection:

American Museum of Natural History

Grade Level:

Secondary, Post-secondary

Abstract:

This BioBulletin Web site takes an in-depth look at attempts to answer the question of what killed off the woolly mammoth. The site includes text, videos, photographs, and interviews with key scientists. The Introduction explains why the woolly mammoth's extinction is particularly puzzling and the thought process that led Ross MacPhee to investigate whether a highly lethal infectious disease was responsible. Tusks on the Tundra covers the 18-day expedition MacPhee and others took north of the Arctic Circle, hunting for mammoth bones and teeth in the soggy tundra. Hyper disease Hypothesis examines this and other hypotheses, such as climate change and over-hunting, as reasons for the mammoths' demise. More on Mammoths provides an in-depth look at what we know about this extinct class of elephants. The Riddle of Mass Extinction examines the reasons why, over the course of life on Earth, many more species have died out than exist at present.

Course Type:

Learning Module

Languages:

English

Material Type:

Readings

Media Format:

Graphics/Photos, Text/HTML, Video

Conditions of Use:

Custom Permissions
All text, images, and software code on this website are copyright property of the American Museum of Natural History and its programmers unless otherwise noted. They may be used for the personal education of website visitors. They may not be placed in the public domain. Any commercial reproduction, redistribution, publication, or other use by electronic means or otherwise is prohibited unless pursuant to a written license signed by the Museum.