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Thursday, 03 January 2008 |
 How did mammoths disappear and did people lead to their extermination, we cannot say for sure. Whatever the reason of their disappearance is, and although there are not any of them nowadays, I think that many people have affections for these creatures.
The most complete skeleton of a steppe mammoth yet found was discovered in 1996 in Kikinda, Serbia. It has recently been mounted and put on display. The specimen is a female, and stands 4.7 m (15.5 ft) tall at the shoulder, with 3.5 m (11.5 ft) long tusks, and would have weighed an estimated 7 tonnes when alive. This suggests even greater dimensions for males from the same area.
What we can be quite sure of is that Kika’s successors lived together with people. Namely, from the mid-Paleolithic, which lasted approximately from 128 000 to 40 000 years B.C. traces of human existence are confirmed in the territory of Serbia. At that time, the only inhabitant of Europe was a Neanderthal man, and we can say that the first humans seen by Kika’s successors in mid-Paleolithic
Nowadays, many scientists study mammoths and their lives. Some analyze their bones, some isolate DNA to determine their molecular past. Long co-existence of humans and mammoths during evolution left indelible traces in us. It is not only that many of us cherish affinity towards these animals, but mammoths are still an inspiration for many works of art.
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