“We were surprised to find that Mammoth had made very long journeys,” explains one researcher

A study published in the journal Science this Friday, dedicated to the mammoth, reveals that despite its creation, this mammal was an excellent walker. Researchers have traced the trajectory of the woolly mammoth that lived in Alaska about 17,000 years ago 28 years ago. One of them, Clement Bottle, explains in Francispo on Friday, August 13 that they were able to reverse his course with his protection. He also tells himself “Surprise” He felt, he moved a lot “Longest journeys, 600 or 700 km” From the age of 15. An assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Ottawa, he equates global warming with the risk of extinction of species today, especially elephants.

“Throughout its life we ​​have seen its borders stretch across Alaska.”

Clement Bottle

To Francispo

franceinfo: Is this the first time we have followed the journey of a mangrove on earth in such a precise way?

Clement Bottle: Yes. Not much is known about the movement of the Muslims. So this is the first time we know about their whereabouts. To reverse this mammoth trend, we used its ivory, which is a tissue that continues to grow, so it records chemical signatures in groundwater or rocks. So, it will allow us with maps to find out where the mammoth is moving.

According to your study, it has traveled twice the equivalent distance to the Earth’s orbit in 28 years of life. Was this amazing?

We were very surprised to find that it is an animal that comes around a lot. We expected it to simply move locally. Early in his life, he stayed for months or even years, in river valleys or streams, wherever he wanted to go. Then at the age of 15, he traveled 600 or 700 km to go to completely different places. Our guess for that is that since he was a male, and this is something that happens to elephants, he was sent out of the herd. Later, as he matured sexually, he began to move a lot from herd to herd. Another possible hypothesis is that since we are in the north, in the Arctic, it is very cold. Conditions are difficult. So the individual may be escaping from a very dry place.

“We see it with elephants now.”

Clement Bottle

To Francispo

Can your research be parallel to today’s climate?

Yes. Many species of megaphones became extinct 12,000 years ago, during the Greatest Climate Change, during the Greatest Climate Change. Some species are extinct but others are missing. For example, wolves and caribou are alive, while mammoths and wildebeests have disappeared, so we wondered if the movement would really have an impact on the fact that these animals are extinct. Among the hypotheses of mammoth extinction, perhaps the climate changed too quickly, so there were more forests in Alaska that would have limited its movements. In this situation, it becomes very difficult to have even this diversity at the level of these diverse resources and reproduction. It is true that we now see with elephants. Savannah drought has made elephants very mobile, so there is definitely a very strong link between climate and the survival of the species. There is also the possibility of influencing the migration of caribou, the migration of more gigantic creatures or others that are less well known and endangered.