We explore Mammuthus primigenius, the woolly mammoth, from its cold-weather adaptations—thick fat, a double coat, tiny ears, and gigantic spiraled tusks—to the complex end of the Ice Age. The debate over whether climate change, habitat loss, or human hunting drove the final extinction on the mainland, and how isolated island populations on Wrangel and St. Paul persisted for millennia. We also dive into ancient DNA and the modern de-extinction effort to hybridize mammoth traits into Asian elephants, and what ecological experiments in rewilding might mean for Arctic ecosystems.

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