Moscow, January 7 - Scientists from the Russian Tomsk State University have discovered record levels of a stable nitrogen isotope in the teeth of woolly mammoths from Siberia, reported the digital magazine Nauka.mail this Tuesday.
These mammoth teeth from Western Siberia preserve unusual chemical characteristics from the Ice Age, and their analysis revealed a chronic mineral deficiency that caused skeletal diseases even with a diet rich in vegetation.
The study was conducted on dentin, the dense tissue of the teeth that is preserved significantly better than fossil bones. The scientists examined 29 mammoth specimens, as well as dentin from ancient horses and deer.
The highest levels were recorded in Volchya Griva, in the Novosibirsk region, one of the largest mineral oases of the Late Pleistocene. High nitrogen levels are typical of animals with water and salt imbalances, and chronic mineral deficiencies.
The mammoths regularly visited salt licks during these periods to replenish their calcium, sodium, and magnesium deficiencies.
More than nine thousand remains of at least 80 mammoths have been found at this site, although less than five percent of the area has been excavated. The age of the findings corresponds to the Last Glacial Maximum, a period from 28,000 to 22,000 years ago when massive mammoth burials accumulated on the southern plains of Western Siberia.
Isotopic analysis allowed researchers to reconstruct past environmental conditions: type of vegetation, climate, and feeding habits. The data did not support the theory that humans abandoned Siberia during the Ice Maximum due to extreme cold.
Stone tools were discovered in all the mammoth cemeteries in the region, indicating a long-term coexistence between humans and mammoths.
Additionally, more than half of the animals studied showed signs of severe skeletal diseases, such as osteoporosis, osteomalacia, and destruction of bone tissue.
This was caused by a change in the chemical composition of plants: about 12,000 years ago, the arid steppes began to give way to wetter landscapes lacking essential minerals.
The study supported the geochemical hypothesis of mammoth extinction. Global warming, increased humidity, and tectonic processes degraded the mineral composition of northern Eurasian landscapes.
As a result, large herbivores continued to receive sufficient food, but their bodies gradually deteriorated due to chronic mineral deficiency.
(With information from Prensa Latina)
