What really killed the woolly mammoth? Let's find out!

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00:00What killed the woolly mammoth?

00:02Let's rewind the Ice Age clock and find out.

00:04Woolly mammoths roamed Earth for hundreds of thousands of years,

00:08surviving brutal cold with shaggy coats and massive tusks,

00:11traveling in herds across Siberia and North America.

00:14But around 4,000 years ago, they vanished.

00:17Historians and scientists have debated forever.

00:19Was it overhunting by humans, shifting climates, or deadly disease?

00:23We might have our answer soon enough.

00:25Researchers just recovered RNA, the fragile molecule that helps DNA make proteins

00:29from a 39,000 year old frozen mammoth.

00:32Normally, RNA decays almost instantly, so this is like opening a biological time capsule.

00:37And while scientists haven't cracked the full story yet,

00:40this breakthrough is a huge first step.

00:43It means they can now start piecing together how mammoth bodies functioned,

00:46what stresses they faced, and maybe even what tipped them into extinction.

00:50So while we wait for this historical mystery to be solved,

00:53what do you think killed the mammoth?

00:55Let us know in the comments, and of course, follow us here for more.