Life › Human evolution › Ice-age megafauna extinctions
Woolly mammoth
c. 700,000–4,000 years ago· Organism or group· Animals
Well establishedStrong fossil, genetic or geological evidence.
A shaggy, cold-adapted elephant that roamed the northern ice-age grasslands for hundreds of thousands of years.
See it on the Life map →What happened
Woolly mammoths evolved from steppe mammoths in northeastern Siberia, by about 700,000–400,000 years ago, and later spread across northern Eurasia and into North America. About as big as African elephants, they had thick fur, a fat layer, small ears and tails, and long curved tusks. Most populations vanished by about 10,000 years ago; a small group on Wrangel Island, in the Arctic Ocean, lasted until about 4,000 years ago, after Egypt's pyramids were built.
Why it matters
The mammoth is the emblem of the ice ages and their extinctions, and its genome is now the template for efforts to engineer cold-hardy elephants.
The evidence (fossils, genes, rocks)
Frozen carcasses from Siberian permafrost, such as the baby Lyuba (found 2007), countless bones and tusks, ice-age cave art, and DNA from teeth over a million years old (2021).
Still debated
How much human hunting versus climate change caused their decline, and what finally ended the Wrangel Island population.
Connections (3)
▸Ice-age megafauna extinctions included Woolly mammothWell established
The connection
Woolly mammoths are the emblem of the ice-age die-off. Their open 'mammoth steppe' grasslands shrank into wetter tundra and forest as the climate warmed, while human hunters spread across their range. Mainland populations died out by about 10,000 years ago; small island groups lasted longer, on Wrangel Island until about 4,000 years ago.
When and how
Northern Eurasia and North America, mostly 15,000–10,000 years ago; St. Paul Island, Alaska, about 5,600 years ago; Wrangel Island, Siberia, about 4,000 years ago.
The evidence
Radiocarbon-dated bones and tusks, frozen carcasses, mammoth-bone dwellings and hunting sites, and ancient genomes showing populations shrinking over time.
Debates and open questions
Whether hunting, habitat loss or both finished mainland mammoths, and why the Wrangel group died out; inbreeding is a suspect, but a sudden event is also possible.
▸Pleistocene ice ages shaped the world of Woolly mammothWell established
The connection
Glacial periods spread a cold, dry grassland, the 'mammoth steppe', from Spain to Canada. Woolly mammoths evolved to exploit it, with thick fur, small ears, fat reserves and teeth for grinding tough grass, and their range grew and shrank as the ice advanced and retreated.
When and how
Northern Eurasia and North America, about 700,000–10,000 years ago, with island survivors on Wrangel Island until about 4,000 years ago.
The evidence
Fossils, permafrost-preserved carcasses, ancient DNA showing cold-adaptation genes, and pollen and plant DNA that map the steppe.
Debates and open questions
How much the shrinking of the steppe at the end of the last ice age, versus human hunting, drove the mammoths' decline.
▸Woolly mammoth is a target of De-extinction & the 2025 'dire wolf' claimStrong evidence
The connection
The mammoth is the flagship target of de-extinction. Colossal Biosciences plans to edit cells of the Asian elephant, the mammoth's closest living relative, with mammoth versions of genes for hair, fat and cold tolerance. In March 2025 it showed 'woolly mice' with long, thick coats from similar edits. It aims for calves by 2028.
When and how
Colossal, founded in 2021 in Dallas by entrepreneur Ben Lamm and geneticist George Church, whose Harvard lab began mammoth gene work in the 2010s.
How sure are we?
Mammoth genomes read from permafrost remains since 2008 make the edits possible; Colossal's progress claims are company announcements, mostly not yet peer-reviewed.
Debates and open questions
Whether a hairy edited elephant counts as a mammoth, the ethics of using endangered elephants as surrogates, and whether herds could help Arctic ecosystems.