Mammoths survived late in Britain

[IndianaGreen]

Page last updated at 23:13 GMT, Wednesday, 17 June 2009 00:13 UK

Mammoths survived late in Britain

By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News

Woolly mammoths lived in Britain as recently as 14,000 years ago, according to new radiocarbon dating evidence.

Dr Adrian Lister obtained new dates for mammoth bones unearthed in the English county of Shropshire in 1986.

His study in the Geological Journal shows the great beasts remained part of Britain's wildlife for much longer than had previously been supposed.

Mammoths may finally have died out when forests encroached on the grassland habitats they favoured for grazing.

The radiocarbon results from the adult male and four juvenile mammoths from Condover, Shropshire, reveal that the great beasts were in Britain more than 6,000 years longer than had previously been thought.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8106090.stm

[applegrove]

1. Cool!

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Mammoths survived to 1700 BC on Wrangel Island in the Arctic

Mammoths died out on mainland Alaska around 11,500 radiocarbon years ago, the end of the Pleistocene epoch. But they are known to have lived longer elsewhere. Last year, other mammoth remains on St Paul Island were reported to be 7,900 radiocarbon years old. And on Wrangel Island, off Siberia, their remains have been found dating as recently as 3,700 years ago.

http://www.bioedonline.org/news/news.cfm?art=2103

The Great Pyramid was about 800 years old when those mammoths died.

[Nihil]

3. Wow. Just "wow". (n/t)

:wow: