Immanuel Velikovshy thought otherwise. He speculated that the Earth was moved in its orbit by interaction with other comets or planets. The mammoths became extinct when Siberia was suddenly thrust into the artic circle after the axis of rotation was shifted to the present day 23 1/2 degrees. A much better explanation considering what's been found in frozen mammoth stomachs. Whatever killed mammoths must have happened suddenly. Otherwise, the mammoths would have migrated. Also, the frozen mammoths likely died from drowning and freezing because they are preserved so well.
> Immanuel Velikovshy thought otherwise.
Velikovsky was a goober. Ranks up there with Van Danniken.
> The mammoths became extinct when Siberia was suddenly thrust into the artic circle
Hogwash. Mammoths ranged over the entire northern hemisphere... Europe, Asia, North America. Last species of mammoth to go extinct only did so in the last 5000 or so years (a dwarf species on some island or other).
> Whatever killed mammoths must have happened suddenly.
Individuals, yes. Eat some daisies, go for a walk on a frozen lake, break through the ice, die and get frozen. Pretty simple, no need for Jupiter to spit out Venus as a comet to explain it.
Velikovsky was an idiot
No comment.
... He speculated that the Earth was moved in its orbit by interaction with other comets or planets. The mammoths became extinct when Siberia was suddenly thrust into the artic circle after the axis of rotation was shifted to the present day 23 1/2 degrees.
There are examples of tree-rings in petrified wood back to at least 90 Mya. Since there were seasons then, any shift in the axis would have had to occur before before that time.
A much better explanation considering what's been found in frozen mammoth stomachs. Whatever killed mammoths must have happened suddenly. Otherwise, the mammoths would have migrated. Also, the frozen mammoths likely died from drowning and freezing because they are preserved so well.
A mammoth's stomach is basically storage bin for masticated vegetation, not much digestion occurs there. Finding "fresh" matter in the stomach doesn't necessarily indicate a sudden demise.
Modern elephants are extremely susceptible to toxins from molds and fungi. Assuming mammoth share the same characteristic, a climate change that encouraged the growth of these molds (or a new strain) would seem to me a more reasonable explanation than flash-frozen mammoth.