The Strange DNA of the last mammoths

[@StefanMilo]

If you are interested in having a career with purpose click here 80000hours.org/stefanmilo (everything they do is FREE FOREVER!)

[@MoganamuraliS]

What?

[@Kradlum]

I see your WCCC cap in the promo 😀

[@SirBoggins]

WASSUP!!!!!

[@occamraiser]

One thing I learned (sadly 40 years too late) watching my career and the careers of my friends is 'Get a job you love, and you'll never work a day in your life'. I had a succession of jobs I didn't like, but paid well so I was able to retire at 52, BUT my friends don't WANT to retire..... so they win!

[@keplermission4947]

Wow, how about those people? Trying to learn their subject by making a video apparently informing others. I don't like the man or the woman you know, they're a type we get in Yale, ghastly video.

[@danielbaulig]

“WAS IT THE SEAPEOPLE?!” Best line in the video xD

[@therealwildfolk]

lol yep, I’m voting sea people until further evidence proves it wrong 😂

[@fredriks5090]

Curiously shaped seapeople helmets

[@196cupcake]

fucking seapeople, man, fuckin' seapeople ...

[@mikeryan3049]

what if with all them mutations the mammoths turned into sea people

[@MalleusDei275]

There was a time when agriculture was mostly for feeding the maga fauna livestocks.... Mammoth ribeyes steaks would be amazing....

[@jennigma]

The southern sea otter is an example of a species recently recovered from the brink of extinction. They were thought to be extinct until a population of about 50 was discovered in 1938 on the coast of California. They have recovered much of their former range, and are now close to being de-listed as an endangered species.

[@jameshatton4211]

It's great hearing that a species has been able to recover back from such a small initial population. Otters are very cute little creatures

[@POSSUM_chowg]

sea otters return to ventura when?

[@jennigma]

@@POSSUM_chowgapparently they were expanding south, but they have plateaued due to the disease that’s killing the starfish and abalone. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_otter#California

[@Matty002]

​@@jameshatton4211its so crazy and sad that people saw them and though their fur was worth slaughtering them to near extinction. proof humans will kill anything no matter how cute if it means capitalistic gains 😞

[@lesp315]

@@jameshatton4211 Until they attack you in the water. You will change your mind in no time.

[@theDaftmuse]

My wife works on the Mammoth team at Colossal and she loved this. Good job!

[@cbhlde]

Ok, I will ask what every stupid male is thinking: you must have more then three feet than? 😉😇☺

[@HavanaSyndrome69]

My girlfriend works on the Mammoth team at Colossal too and she also loved this! She told me she wanted to show her husband. They do awesome work there so I couldn't be more proud. It's super interesting what we can find out from things that are so old with modern technology.

[@CoolSpongebobSquarepants]

Can she sneak me one xd

[@ViriatoII]

I have a mammoth tooth at home, is this interesting for you guys?

[@stargatis]

How exciting! And don’t worry, muses don’t need to be anything but themselves ❤

[@davidkeene64]

I liked it how Milo was candid about saying he was basically 'direction-less' for ages. It'd be great if every other KZbinr came across as both pleasant-sounding and enthusiastic as he is. DK from AUS.

[@rianbey1]

Don't understand why an older adult seems hung up about the subject of inbreeding and images of elephants mating. The extra time spent emoting the little girl squeamishness deserves his own pair of golden pig tails. ADULTS...please GROW UP...and stop acting like little children...it's a bad direction for society to continue on.

[@evillemike2009]

"Rising ape levels" may be my new touch stone for thinking about, and debating, all things ecological. Outstanding.

[@bartolomeothesatyr]

It's definitely a succinct shorthand for all of the myriad ways we change our environment.

[@MDuarte-vp7bm]

The most risky but harmless way of phrasing that 😅

[@thetapeloops9522]

When humans appear, other creatures disappear. First the large species are hunted to extinction, then we work out way down the food chain till today when we're stealing krill from the whales

[@MDuarte-vp7bm]

@@thetapeloops9522 Not that simple. Most of the effect is because we replace existing animals with ones that are useful to us. Like Buffalo being replaced by cattle. Also, as we deplete things like fish stocks, squid populations are exploding. Nature isn't waiting for fish stocks to recover. The niche is open regardless of whether or not it's supposed to be, and it will be filled.

[@budterfly3479]

Primate change 😔

[@gaufrid1956]

Stefan, when my son in Australia was in his mid teens (he turns 31 this month), he played football for Cardiff Tigers FC. His team sponsored a female Bengal tiger and her two cubs. I was the team manager, and I still have the team shirt with WWF logo on the back. It was amazing to know that mammoths were still alive at the time of the Sumerians and Egypt's earliest dynasty. I loved the joke about the Sea People. They are the archaeologists' favourite explanation for a lot of things, but no-one knows who they were or if they were real. Another great video, Stefan.

[@helenamcginty4920]

I gather that 'they' were real but not really 'a people'. Possibly a bit like the mix of immigrants from war torn or drought ridden or just piverty stricken areas of Asia, Arabia and Africa into Europe. Much like our own ancient Steppe ancestors.

[@gardenlizard1586]

I like the way you say "so far" when talking about our knowledge of prehistory. Wish more scientists, paleontologists and archaeologists would say same.

[@Andreas_42]

Well, others here in KZbin say "that we know of".

[@gardenlizard1586]

@Andreas_42 True in part. Most do not. . "The largest dinosaur ever to exist" is more the line I hear, not, "This is the largest dinosaur, YET FOUND." Same physics. "Sciemtists know the early universe expanded." No sciemtists do not lnow. Reason, it's a theory.

[@MDuarte-vp7bm]

It's a generational thing, I think. Very endearing to hear the humility of "that we know of" rather than the old absolutes we've been wrong about so many times. @Andreas_42

[@instantchiro85]

Agreed. So many years lost due to prideful “scientists” and professors that can’t change their opinion when new data is presented. The ones that will survive the lack of trust are the rare ones that can change their minds with new information

[@ZachFury]

“Was it the Sea People?” 😂 22:06

[@michaelhowell2326]

I live in North Carolina and I didn't know we that mammoths lived this far south. That's awesome. I often think about what my farm looked like thousands of years ago and to think they could have roamed here is amazing!

[@bodiless99]

There have been mammoth fossils found in north Florida

[@otisthetowndrunk]

You should check out the natural history museum in Raleigh. It's a really good museum

[@missourimongoose8858]

There were 4 different species of mammoth in the americas, the biggest one being the south american species so they were quite literally everywhere at some point in time

[@mattheww797]

pretty sure mammoths weren't actually real

[@michaelhowell2326]

@@mattheww797 sure, I'll take the bait. How weren't they real?

[@bracoop2]

I’m so glad you don’t have a different job. I get so much satisfaction and happiness watching this channel. Thank you

[@JamesKennedy-zs8go]

I took her enormous satisfaction from listening to Mr Milo

[@GeorgeTheDinoGuy]

The decline of Wooly Mammoths and their relatives is tragic. The last members of their species being restricted to lost worlds like Cyprus and Wrangle Island act as a poetic end. I think this also helps us value the island species we have left such as Lemurs of Madagascar, the Rails of the Pacific Islands and island Foxes of the Americas. Fascinating video. P.S. The elephant mating clip caught me off guard LOL

[@MDuarte-vp7bm]

I thought you was goin the other way with humans being stuck on earth and needing to take care of it and each other before our little "6 thousand years" runs out.

[@doriansebastian8065]

They went extinct on wrangel island around the same time humans got there... hmm what a huge mystery. Lol

[@gibbcharron3469]

@@MDuarte-vp7bmI think both interpretations are equally valid and important! We’re all fundamentally stuck in the same lifeboat, island species just have a much smaller and more precarious corner of it than humans do.

[@randallbesch2424]

@@MDuarte-vp7bm humans have been around at least 250,000 years we have gone around several times and may do so again unless we die a heat death this time.

[@MDuarte-vp7bm]

@@randallbesch2424 I'm referring to the lifespan of the planet. Obviously, while the planet is viable, humans will find a way to survive on it. The heat death of the universe is practically an eternity of time away from the last star's passing. (You're making a very big jump)

[@susanverhoeven4962]

This video added so much to my knowledge of a great topic. Well done, and thank you so much.

[@SirBoggins]

“Our near and distant predecessors might be forgiven for exterminating the last woolly mammoth, the ultimate dodo, the final sea cow, and the last living monk seal for lack of understanding the consequences of their actions. But who will forgive us if we fail to learn from past and present experiences, to forge new values, new relationships, a new level of respect for the natural systems that keep us alive?” - Sylvia A. Earle

[@NineSeptims]

yeah kinda sad we still do it and just barely fix it.

[@SirBoggins]

​@@NineSeptimsIt’s all about doing our best, whether it's enough or not depends on how far we'll go to do our best.

[@StefanMilo]

Very true!

[@SirBoggins]

@@StefanMilo And something to learn from!

[@SirBoggins]

@@StefanMilo Fortunately, mammoths are getting revived, so hope still burns bright! 🔥

[@parkertruesdell4605]

Your videos are so relaxing. I watch them to go to sleep, but it often doesn’t work because I’m too interested

[@karamia1392]

So engaging Stefan … compelling and drawing one in to your enthusiasm. I think Sir David Attenborough would love it. You have the same kind of delivery. I know I sound a bit glib and sycophantic but you’re really that good. Hope the BBC discovers you :)

[@StefanMilo]

Praise indeed, thank you for your kind words

[@karamia1392]

@@StefanMilo well deserved!

[@MattJoyce01]

What a great video, and the first from you for me (thank you Algo). I really enjoyed how you approach this deep time topic, and thought the somewhat pensive and somber moments quite fitting. Great attitude, solid treatment, and well made. Bravo, instant sub.

[@eve3614]

This reminds me of a study that was done back in the 1970s using very early computer simulation. The team was trying to study possible scenarios for the initial peopling of remote Polynesian islands. They found that for humans, in order to achieve a 50% chance of establishing a stable population with assured genetic survival, all you need is at 3 pairs of breeding individuals. 6 people! That study assumed perfect monogamy, and odds are even better if you allow non-monogamy. The survival of the Wrangel Island mammoths from such a small seed population is incredible, but as unbelievable as it may seem, populations can achieve permanent stability with even smaller numbers than that! Amazing. Also, I'm going to be saying "rising ape levels" for the rest of my life. McArthur, N., Saunders, I. et al. 1976. Small population isolates: a micro-simulation study. Journal of the Polynesian Society 85:307-26.

[@f2detaboada]

You need to reproduce like crazy in order to have those chances.

[@peterwilliams2152]

Finally, someone that references the source document! ❤❤❤❤

[@speaklifegardenhomesteadpe8783]

Respect for noting sources! 💯

[@bagofsteel9152]

I have a brewing friend who makes kombucha, and he has this insanely vigorous yeast culture he shared with me. It was obtained by his microbiologist friend who was backpacking in Japan. She came across a Japanese microbiologist who, through long broken conversation, shared a small sample of his mammoth yeast he was studying with her. She kept it alive for the rest of her trek and smuggled it back to the U.S. in a soap bottle. It's the secret weapon in his kombucha, with an incredibly wide temperature threshold range and higher alcohol tolerance. I've yet to formulate a beer because it's so wild and I'm not a huge Belgian or French style brewer. I've worked with a lot of yeast strains and this puts even the most vigorous strains on the market to shame.

[@AWICKEDVIXEN1999]

Lol u being serious? Mammoth yeast

[@marahaquala1686]

Interesting. Would be nice to see verification of this

[@AWICKEDVIXEN1999]

@@bagofsteel9152 a new disease brewing from fools

[@bagofsteel9152]

@@marahaquala1686 dude, how vivid do you think my imagination is?

[@perfesserblue1790]

You can use the yeasty beer foam to bake some good bread.

[@jrrarglblarg9241]

Been with you since you were talking to a spoon, and you sharing papers like this is why. Thanks so much.

[@jeanettewaverly2590]

Bring back the spoon!

[@kcgunesq]

@@jeanettewaverly2590 Or, at least, put down the stand mic and use it as intended.

[@artbyty]

RIP spoon

[@TrueSonOfWalhall]

@@artbyty according to his reply to another comment the spoon is now taped to his 100k subscriber badge

[@sharendonnelly7770]

Great video, really enjoyed it. Perhaps you may look into the pygmy mammoths of the Channel Islands off the coast of California?

[@NicolaiDufva]

Your passion and communication skills are amazing. Thanks for sharing this with us, Stefan!

[@Belisarius536]

Just to point out, the famous Hapsburgs protruding jaw and the overlapping of the bottom teeth over the top teeth was underbite or mandibular prognathism, rather than overbite. The overbite would of course be the top teeth overlapping the bottom. The overbite could give the appearance of having a small or weak jaw, which of course the Hapsburgs didn’t have. 😂

[@garywheeler7039]

Egyptian kings were also affected by inbreeding, Akhenaten for instance. A bizarre skull and effeminate looking body.

[@therealbettyswollocks]

We need Stefan to sellotape a plastic spoon to his new mic... old times.

[@StefanMilo]

It’s taped to my 100k subscriber badge

[@ungoyone]

​@@StefanMiloWas it the same spoon the whole time?

[@MDuarte-vp7bm]

​@ungoyone The spoon probably got pilfered every time he had yogurt and forgot to grab one. We are probably on Spoon #7.

[@John-c4r1o]

He needs an aluminium tin foil hat. Then he can really push the boundaries of science... 😂

[@StefanMilo]

There was only ever 2 and 99% were filmed with just the one. Which I still have taped to the subscriber badge but I probs consumed a yoghurt or 2 with it lol

[@paulapridy6804]

I got a whole fresh viewpoint from this episode. Always a pleasure,Stefan

[@hannahbrown2728]

Ive been stoked for this since I saw the community post. Im so grateful so many people in and out of the field are willing to give you and us their time to answer our questions; Im sure they appreciate our passion! Thank you for your, Marianne's, and everyone else out theres hardwork in unearthing the lost history of our species and others and bringing it to the public.

[@FotosForArt]

I've enjoyed your work for a couple of years, now. This is one of your best, yet. Thanks for all your good work.

[@terrenusvitae]

It looked like unearthing that mammoth tusk was a mammoth task!

[@MDuarte-vp7bm]

Boooo!

[@northernbohemianrealist]

Yay!

[@randallbesch2424]

No it wasn't.

[@Lightning613]

🥺🙄

[@juanpascallucianobravado6112]

You’re looking great! So thankful for your videos, you are such a good science communicator.

[@charlessebag7260]

A new video, thank you for the good work Stefan !

[@carolinejames7257]

Great to see your name pop up on my list with new content. Good stuff!

[@brandyjean7015]

Those 8 breeding mammoths must have had stellar DNA.

[@NeptunesLagoon]

I think that it’s at least 3-4 times that number if not more, to keep them stable thru thousands of years…😮 with just 8 it would be almost impossible to not have inbreeding in them… it’s difficult enough at 40 individuals over that period…

[@droomonsta]

@@NeptunesLagoon rarely, very rarely, you have an inbred population that are very healthy, because all of the issues (bad DNA) that occur have been killed off. But any changes to the environment can kill off even the strong healthy individuals because the diversity to enable change is gone. The only example off the top of my head is Vaquita's (Phocoena Sinus).

[@flarvin8945]

She did state that 8 was the low end of their estimate. Odds are there were probably more than 8 breeding mammoths. I wish the video stated the entire range of their estimate, instead of just the low end value.

[@darylb5564]

They didn’t have the best DNA but they could play the hell out of the banjo…

[@SandraBonney]

Or maybe they ultimately became sterile?

[@simonward-horner7605]

Always a pleasure to see a new Stefan Milo video. It's amazing those isolated mammoths survived for so long under those circumstances. I look forward to any further developments in this study. Thanks!

[@yorkshirepudding9860]

Glad you are back. Was sorry to see in your community post that you were having family trouble. Hope things are better now.

[@griffithberserk1367]

Fascinating and well-structured video. Thanks for your efforts in illuminating these interesting topics about the past!

[@zarasbazaar]

Since the island is currently attached to the mainland by ice in the winter, I wonder if there's any evidence of mammoths crossing back and forth.

[@mylesdickenson9060]

Not likely as there's no food resources available on the pack ice, the mammoths would most likely have remained on the island in the areas where some food was present this can be assumed by the mammoth's population increasing to over 300 individuals before going extinct.

[@joemanco-no4jy]

Stefan, as time goes by you get better and more entertaining doing this. Keep up the good work.

[@Ford-wt8rn]

It's wild they were around during the Sumerians and ancient Egypt

[@randallbesch2424]

No just lingering minor overlap. Just be happy the Terror Birds weren't all over the place.

[@glennquagmire1747]

It's incredible they were around 4,000 years ago, shame some of em not around today it would've been amazing to see them. Awesome video 👍

[@cbhlde]

Thanks Stefan; love the channel and your glee about your stuff - it's really woollysome and just nice. ;) Grüße aus Lübeck!

[@jimbriggs3065]

Outstanding work mate!!! I’m kind of amazed that no insular dwarfism wasn’t found given the small isolated population. Cheers!!!

[@danwylie-sears1134]

I think the most likely reason that the mammoth population on Wrangel Island could survive severe inbreeding is that their ancestors had already been through enough inbreeding. The recessive-lethal alleles weren't there, either because there had been previous bottlenecks, or because there had always been relatively low numbers of individual mammoths in any local population. In stable normal-sized populations, recessive-lethal alleles don't get completely eliminated. Once the abundance of such an allele is even kind of low, there's _very_ little chance of having two copies, so there's very little selection pressure against it. An allele that's one-in-a-thousand in overall frequency is one-in-a-million to have both copies match. However, even a less severe bottleneck is likely to completely eliminate such an allele: a population of a hundred individuals is likely to have exactly zero copies of a one-in-a-thousand allele.

[@AfricanWildDog54]

So, in theory, would it be possible to have a population of almost genetically identical individuals survive indefinitely (controlling for external threats)? That would be pretty interesting concerning the implications of that for humans, since our population is collapsing, and we're entering the age of space colonization. Maybe there will be space rednecks.

[@doverthecat6638]

I think that's a very plausible explanation, but I still think some harmful alleles could have cropped up. For example, cheetahs have gone through two very severe genetic bottlenecks (don't remember exact numbers or dates, but one was like 100,000 years ago and the other was right after the last ice age, and at some point I believe the population is estimated to have been under twenty individuals) and have persisted. However, they have very high rates of skull asymmetry and very low sperm quality species-wide. I think that it's possible that some harmful genes, maybe related to immunity, held on and eventually became ubiquitous in the population, maybe spelling the end.

[@meadbrow8479]

Considering they were around when Hammurabi was still roaming it's empire, i do believe humans messed them up to the point of extinction, otherwise they would be still around to this day. They survived 6k years in this same dire conditions.

[@Murglie]

Like how consecutive bottlenecks are how antibiotic-resistant bacterias evolve.

[@randallbesch2424]

@@Murglie the Toba eruption caused tigers to bottleneck and may have wiped out many humans, plants and animals during the time of darkness from the soot clouds.

[@dp0004]

Stefan. I had a history teacher that engaged me so much in about 1970. I continue to remember him. Your teaching is lax and acceptable to others who don't know that they are learning. I learn. Thank you.

[@fabiosplendido9536]

The Habsburgs didn't have an overbite, they had an underbite.

[@chrysanthiechrissos-yy4hi]

Correct

[@fabiosplendido9536]

@@chrysanthiechrissos-yy4hi Although I mean no disrespect to this nice Swedish lady. I'm sure it was just a mistake. My Swedish totals about three loan words and "thank you" so I can't criticise.

[@frogmantoad8110]

@@fabiosplendido9536French?

[@jespervalgreen6461]

​@@fabiosplendido9536 I'm not Swedish, but I do somewhat speak the language. Overbite is 'överbett' , underbite 'underbett' - basically the same words as English, with a slightly different spelling (and pronunciation). I think she just misspoke, it happens.

[@shereegriffin6830]

And they were called Hapsburgs

[@stusacks2220]

I always look forward to your videos Stefan! Always interesting and entertaining. We appreciate your efforts!

[@CatchingJeremy]

You didn't lie, it was a banger. Crazy to imagine we were actually just some centuries away from the last mammoths.

[@SB5SimulationsFerroviairesEEP]

Merci du partage! Je suis mitigé sur les informations données par cette vidéo sur les Mammouths. Trop d'éléments non prouvés ou étayés ici. Les Mammouths ne peuvent avoir disparus de cette terre sous la pression des hommes! S'ils sont remontés pour leur échapper, notamment par le froid, alors les hommes ne peuvent les avoir suivi, sinon pourquoi ces mammouths serait restés là bas si l'homme les avaient rejoint? Ils seraient redescendus! En laissant les hommes à distances! Et si le nombre d'hommes dépendaient des mammouths, alors leur nombre ne peu augmenter si les mammouths disparaissent! Les Mammouths avaient d'autres prédateurs bien plus redoutable! Leurs cornes n'ont pas été données par la nature pour faire face à l'homme! Mais pour les combats entre eux, et pour faire face à de vrais prédateurs bien plus puissant que l'homme! L'homme était lui aussi un proie en ces temps là! Le gros problème vient des scientifiques faignant et imbéciles qui pour faire comme la doxa le demande, mettent tout sur la faute de l'homme! Le grand destructeur! Sauf que ces pensées imbéciles ne tiennent pas la route face à une vrai analyse! En Afrique, il y avait des milliers de groupes ethniques sur des siècles!! Et aucun d'entre eu n'a fait disparaitre les Eléphants!! Ni les Maasaï, ni les zoulous, etc... Pourtant tous étaient de grands et puissants groupes de chasses! L'extinction des éléphants a débuter non pas par l'arrivée des blancs, mais par le fait de pouvoir faire de l'argent avec les carcasses et défenses d'éléphants! Comme pour les mains des gorilles. Ce n'est pas la présence de l'homme le problème, mais la présence des marchants du temple! Les scientifiques imbéciles pourris de croyances universitaires avaient racontés pendant des lustres que les aborigènes d'Australie avec leur brulis avaient détruit la faune et la flore! Sauf que maintenant on sait que c'est l'inverse! Et que le fait d'avoir arrêté a la demande des hommes blancs tellement sur d'eux avait contribué à faire disparaitre des animaux et des plantes! Donc maintenant ils ont recommencés à faire comme les anciens aborigènes. Ensuite Stefan Milo annonce sans la moindre preuve que les Mammouths n'ont pas nagés!! D'où sort il cela? Purée une recherche sur le net, "éléphant nageant en mer", et on trouve toutes les preuves que les mammouths ont pus arriver par la nage! Et donc même repartir! Ou nager encore plus loin? Sur des iles encore non découvertes au moins officiellement! Si même la consanguinité ne les a pas tués, qu'il suffisait juste qu'un petit nombre survive pour repartir de plus bel! Alors c'est sur que ce n'est pas l'homme. Surtout s'il n'y a pas de traces d'armes sur les squelettes! Si c'était un virus, lui aussi aurait laissé des traces sur les os. De plus les scientifiques ou certains disent que les animaux coinsés sur une iles sur plusieurs générations, ont tendance à perdre en taille et peuvent aussi devenir nain! Mais pas ici? Maintenant si ces mammouths à génétique différentes venaient non pas du continent, mais d'ailleurs sur la carte? D'un endroit inconnu? Et que la composition chimique de l'aire, de l'eau, et de la nourriture ne leur avaient pas convenu dans le temps? Et que ce soit ça qui est changé leur ADN? Franchement pour moi cette étude n'est que superficielle, donc les conclusions sont juste impossible... Il faudrait que des botanistes facent le voyage et cherchent des modifications génétique sur les plantes, et la chimie de l'eau et de l'aire. Stéph. baleinesousgravillon.com/mammouth-evolution/ baleinesousgravillon.com/disparition-mammouth/ www.pinterest.fr/pin/274227064783314326/

[@seanbeadles7421]

0:20 you know...i expected the removal of the tusk to be more “archaeological” than just pulling it out of the ground. I guess permafrost makes it too difficult. Arctic excavations sound so fun

[@canchero724]

I'd be terrified that I'd break it tugging at it from the ground 😂. But these guys know what they're doing I suppose

[@jeffreylebowski3216]

Yeah, it would really be a bummer to break it, considering they dig it up to saw pieces out of it with a handsaw.

[@krishna-e-bera]

why wouldnt they want to see how it was buried in context? maybe there are other fossils nearby

[@debroselle8877]

The arctic is a fly infested, mosquito clouded hell in the summer. Not fun walking around the tundra.

[@johngillen275]

And that researcher sawing the tusk barehanded! Wouldn’t that raise the risk of accidental DNA contamination? “Whoops! This mammoth turns out to be a close relative of Prof. Fred here!”

[@ColdHawk]

Oh hell yes! Great topic! Thank you so much for this Stefan. I have a 1.5 hour drive ahead of me today and I am know I am going to listen to this a few times through on the way. In a case like mine one needs to plan ahead for things that help maintain one’s sanity. The kid shrieking in the back, the dog barking at big trucks, the cat peeing in the carrier, and the wife anxiously telling me that I have gotten us lost - it will all just fade into background noise while I listen to some quality Milo. I am going to go put my AirPods in the car right now so I don’t forget them. Ha! Take THAT you slings and arrows!! Thank you for this!

[@feralfoods]

blame it on the SeaPeoples!!! -love that joke! -thank you stefan for all your videos.

[@WaterShowsProd]

The Sea Peoples: the Dark Matter of archaeology.

[@smitinathan]

This was an excellent video and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I especially appreciated the hopeful message at the end.

[@berendtw3595]

Don’t you think it is a bit too much of a coincidence that the extinction date of the mammoths and the earliest evidence of the arrival of humans is only about 400 years apart while they lived on the island for over 6000 years? I think most probably they were hunted to extinction just like the mammoths on the mainland

[@mnforager]

Definitely the most probable answer

[@clauslangenbroek9897]

Only they didn't find any items made of mammoth ebony, nor any marks of tools or collections of bones, which would have likely happened had they hunted them to extinction.

[@berendtw3595]

@@clauslangenbroek9897True, but that does not mean that it did not happen. The population at any time was probably only 300 animals. They could have been hunted close to extinction in only one generation. Meaning that there is only about 300 hunted mammoths to find of which only probably a fraction would have been preserved in a way that you could with certainty say they were hunted. Compared to the many thousands that lived there before human contact. And then those remains also have to be found on this huge island by a only couple of scientists as that place is completely deserted. Also why would those people who had never been exposed to mammoths before know exactly how to exploit that resource to the fullest extend. Probably the mammoths were completely tame at that point and could easily be slaughtered in large quantities making using every part of the animal irrelevant.

[@clauslangenbroek9897]

@@berendtw3595 You are right. Only your last points seem a little doubtful to me. If they had experience enough to hunt them down (or just build weapons,) they probably knew how to use the bodies in every aspect. They knew mammals. And if they were hunters they (probably) had some kind of cult around it, making an inconsiderate slaughter questionable and creating art probable. Even if they didn't use every mammoth bit, they would definitely have left marks from desintegrating the bodies. You are right, though, we cannot know until we have researched a lot more of the island. Just, that I don't think, with the information we have, that overhunting is more probable than any other explanation. Interesting thought, btw., regarding tame mammoths. If there was contact, and they were tame, humans might have exploited them *over time*. I don't know if the mammoths' social structure would have supported this, though 🤔 Another thought, although somewhat fantastic. Maybe they knew about the mammoths but due to their unfamiliar appearance there was some kind of taboo about the island. This is all very interesting 😊

[@SusanG-qv2wr]

Haven't read all of the comments, but was interested that living conditions remained good enough that mammoth miniaturization didn't occur as it has on other islands. Food must have remained abundant.

[@arcitejack]

Hapsburg had underbites, not overbites. Great channel. Been following for years.

[@emvandermeulen1908]

Glad to see you back. I hope all is well.

[@tewks4458]

Milo is the kind of dude who can take a topic I don't initially find that interesting and make it extremely interesting. This is a fascinating vid.

[@theravenousrabbit3671]

An elephant has one of the most advanced and developed olfactory systems today. Knowing that mammals use scent to find genetically compatible partners, is it that difficult to guess that mammoths could smell how closely related they were to each-other and would pick partners who were distantly related, as much as could be, at least?

[@dandare1001]

That's possible. Humans do it, too (apart from in Norfolk, UK). 😉

[@thedukeofchutney468]

I dunno most species have incest taboos, but occasionally it’s ignored like in West Virginia, Alabama and most of the Middle East.

[@tristanbuster7245]

@@thedukeofchutney468dukes, marquesses, barons, LOTS of nobility💀

[@szymonbaranowski8184]

​@@dandare1001 except if they use perfumes that fool this system

[@szymonbaranowski8184]

​@@thedukeofchutney468 middle east isn't doing so bad actually, cousin marriages are healthiest from genetical and cultural point

[@Neilhuny]

Two great sections to this video within minutes: a) Dr Marianne Dehasque is a very impressive scientist and communicator; it is a privilege for us to see her speak about her work b) 6:30 "Actual footage of mosquitos from excavation" is a good illustration why environmental factors might cause a dramatic change in career! As a 13 yr old I had set my heart on becoming a forester and everything after that point - school, university, first job led to me achieving my dreams ... Then midges discovered how tasty I was. I managed 3 years in W coast of Scotland before extreme hatred of the little beasties drove me crazy, so I changed my hobby to my job, job to my hobby, and became an IT specialist earning oodles of money in the office blocks of London. The flip side/forestry substitute was growing exotic plants and traveling widely. Midges/mosquitoes are life changing. Sefan's comment: "absolute worst nightmare". I concur - those people deserve some sort of gargatuan reward

[@novedad4468]

Biologist studying the Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinction here, sorry in advance for the long text. It honestly annoys me how difficult it is to convince the scientific community of the primary role that humans had in megafaunal extinction. We are talking about an unprecedented and selective event in the history of life on earth, that happened in every landmass, selectively to bigger megafauna, and chronologically close to the arrival of modern humans (but asinchronically to each other). We are talking about a species (us) that is completely unique in its biological traits, has ample evidence of consuming megafauna, and overwhelming evidence of high impacts on their ecosystem. How is it not the main suspect to explain this world-level event? Yes, climate was changing when the megafauna went extinct. In fact, climate is changing all the time. You are always going to find some event, some trend you can consider in the climate, no matter when the extinction happened. Be it colder climate, hotter climate, aridification, rainforest expansion, rainforest contraction, there's always gonna be something, climate rarely stays stable. Woolly mammoths endured hundreds of thousands of years of glacial cycles, with changes way faster or more drastic than Bølling-Allerød or the Younger Dryas, without their population size ever being so severely affected. And we know that this extinction didn't even affect equally all megafauna even in the same place, not to mention, again, the size bias of the extinction. And yes, it is always cautious to assume that complex events require a combination of causes, but let's not be gullible here. If a beach bar closes after 40 years, the same year an oil spill happened near that beach, would you blame the oil spill, or was that just the nail in the coffin of a business that was already struggling due to a lower level of visitors that winter? They always sold less in winter, but somehow this year they couldn't make it. Obviously, this is a stupid comparison. The topic is complex (and that's why I love it), and I, like every individual, am not objective, as much as I might try to look at the data with objectivity. But to me, there is a big reticence in the scientific community to put the blame on us, on humanity, unless the evidence is undeniable. In this case, we have a population of mammoths, which went extinct all throughout their immense range for "a combination of causes", that somehow managed to outlive every other mammoth on an island that with the attributes of being small, having very harsh conditions, and coincidentally, being isolated from humans. Those same drastic cooling events that contributed to the extinction of mammoths from Iberia to Manchuria and North America didn't seem to affect a tiny, artic, inbred population of isolated mammoths. Yet when we find out that, unlike how it had been proposed, the population was stable and didn't appear to suffer from inbreeding depression until it suddenly and inexplicably died, our first thoughts went to... fires? Avian-proboscidean flu? To me the explanation is way more simple. The same modern humans that pushed mainland mammoths to extinction did the same to the Wrangel population. We don't have the evidence of the last mammoth with a spearpoint embedded in their bones, but as SM himself explained, the paleontologic record is always gonna be incomplete. The chronological distance between the last dated mammoth remain and the first recorded human settlement is just a few hundred years old. It would be very likely, almost to be expected, that if the extinction happened just a few years after humans first encountered this population, those fossils aren't the first ones we have found out of the ones accumulating there for thousands of years. This becomes more evident when you think about the number of individuals that lived in the island for the 8000 years that the population existed, compared to the 2 to 300 individuals that existed at a time if humans were indeed the ones encountering and decimating the population. It's statistically unlikely to find both the last mammoths and the first humans of Wrangel Island. In my humble opinion (and this is all that it is, an opinion), the absence of direct evidence of butchery shouldn't be used as definite evidence of humans not being behind it. Much to the contrary, although this is definitely not proved without direct evidence, I believe that the arrival of humans to Wrangel island is the most likely candidate to explain the pattern of sudden extinction of the population, and that the lack of archaeological evidence, although an issue, seems statistically plausible. I would even add, even though this is complete speculation and I am definitely not knowledgable enough about this, that a group of siberian hunter gatherers that hasn't encountered a mammoth for at least 8000 years, would probably not just get rid of the remains of a mammoth, but maybe modify or move them around somehow. I wouldn't be surprised if future archaeological expeditions find some evidence either in Wrangel or in the closest mainland, in form of an unusually young ivory figure. But until more actual evidence is found, this is little more than expeculation.

[@TheDanEdwards]

TL;DR. You might try a summary. And if you think, for example, that the Wikipedia entry needs correcting (on the topic of human-accelerate extinction of late Pleistocene fauna) then edit it and add the link here (KZbin does allow Wikipedia links.)

[@sldulin]

I tend to agree with your conclusion, but... I do find it odd that with so many samples to analyze they don't see evidence of weapons being used. I'm ok with the random nature of where the carcasses are found. The humans hunting the buffalo almost to extinction left no indications of any culture either. Humans can be mindless and bloodthirsty. But you would think arrows and spears would leave tell-tale signs.

[@steelesmith1379]

why would humans discriminate towards the mammoth over the many extant species of elephant? how flammable were mammoths?

[@Grey_Ocean2023]

@@sldulin It's possible we simply haven't found evidence such yet. Also, I'm inclined to think if humans played a role in the demise of this remnant mammoth population, the humans in question weren't long term residents of the island, but arrived in hunting parties. If so, I think it's possible they may have butchered the animals locally, and then transported the meat, hides and bones (all of which were valuable resources, after all) away with them. That might explain the lack of "etched bone" style evidence of human weaponry. If humans returned every summer to harvest this valuable source of meat, it may not have taken very long for the mammoth population to be pushed below reproductive viability.

[@berendtw3595]

Totally agree

[@paulburgess5111]

appreciate your passion. it's so inspiring for the new world we find ourselves in.

[@Balloon_Juice]

Great presentation. Thank you Stefan.

[@GregGarner]

I’ve been checking Nebula daily waiting and waiting for the next Stefan Milo vid. Woot 🎉

[@robertlinton5966]

Great video and you are looking well, like you are healthier recently. Keep it up!

[@EoThorne]

Me: “Is that a leg?” Milo: “Sorry, I had to include that clip.”

[@garywheeler7039]

You did the right thing. Let's not be overly puritanical.

[@luizanunes3420]

Stefan you're the best!! I remember how you mentioned in some other videos that Mammoths weren't probably our main source of food in the past but how much they simbolize about our history. Thinking about this "mammoth paradise" that later becomes a mammoth graveyard made me kinda of sad. But when you talk about the tigers it made me lighten up again. Thank you

[@Snarge22]

Mr. full-on archeology enthusiast is back! Time to watch Stefan's video. Thanks in advance Stefan!

[@johntomasini3916]

Thank you Stefan for another great video. You are the most human scientist I have uncounted, you are so relatable. And I mean that in the nicest possible way.

[@simonmorris-p7m]

Chickens can recognise 20 different individuals, I’ll bet mammoths could recognise as individuals the whole 300 population on the island & remember who is family.

[@mradventurer8104]

Maybe the island was bigger than? Not impossible imo.

[@terrylandess6072]

People have continuously picked over their lands for so long, I can understand the amazement at finding something so old intact.

[@OlivierMalinur]

You should think about the Hercynian Forest. Up to Carolus Magnus time, we were having hyenas and auroch in Germany. There were lions in Thrace. Tigers seems to have disappeared from eastern Turkey and Iran ( there might be surviving individuals in Turkey and Afghanistan.).

[@a.m.5953]

my favorite youtuber has returned, fascinating topic!

[@charlesjmouse]

We very nearly lost horses, imagine how different our world would have been without them? What if mammoths had stuck it out to the modern age? I'm glad your excellent guest finds the story of the Wrangle mammoths hopeful for our 'islands' of wildlife - I'm afraid the lesson for me is it seems a local disaster wiped out an isolated species, a species that might have survived that local disaster if it had been more widespread. As an aside - could this unexpected data be the result of systematic errors? eg: Understandably selecting only the 'good' genomes might have introduced biases.

[@ms-jl6dl]

Donkeys?

[@sneescampers]

Imagin how much cargo we could of pulled with a team on six domesticated mammoth !

[@skepticalCoder]

Phenomenal episode!! Thanks so much for this one!

[@occamraiser]

7000 views in it's first hour - congratulations Stefan on the enthusiasm of your subscribers, including me.

[@nghiado9895]

"its"... try saying "7000 views in IT IS first hour"

[@omgmo1962]

​@@nghiado9895 try not being an ass 😊

[@nghiado9895]

@@omgmo1962 You're an ass for interjecting!

[@kevinestep5078]

I’d just like to say, Stefan, whatever route you took to get where you are now has turned out to be a splendid gift to a lot of people, like me, who enjoy your contribution to this field immensely.

[@MrLittletube]

Stefan. Your passion drives me nuts. (In a good way) Thank you.

[@zaksundin8763]

Stefan's enthusiasm is surely 30ish% of my interest in this channel. He is great

[@suzanneperron549]

Awesome! Thank you! I have really missed your content.

[@prodbyend]

STEFAN MY GOAT YOURE BACK WOOOO

[@amicusaxiom]

I pressed "Like" because of your enthusiasm, the involvement of an expert, on-site video, and your excellent audio. I pressed "Subscribe" because of the skulls on stands behind you.

[@SirBoggins]

So this is where Manny from Ice Age lives now! So anyway, where's Diego and Sid??

[@ericharris5299]

Man I love your channel it's very very educational I love everything about it

[@stupidusedrnames]

My cousins found mammoth bones in the strip mine on their farm. They took it to Cleveland history museum back in the 70s

[@ngantnier]

Yeah, pretty common but still cool. I foubd a couple of teeth up in NY.

[@rafashyft]

Very interesting as usual, keep up the quality work.

[@dougsinthailand7176]

You have to wonder what the plant life on those islands were like. I mean, elephants, we know, depend on lots of vegetation, mowing down trees to get at nutrients. Was the bounty of Wrangel island nothing but grasses and lichen?

[@joh6629]

Great way to end the video. As always. Thanks Stefan!

[@erichtomanek4739]

An example of an animal that has survived after having fallen to a very small number of breeding adults, albeit with human help, is: The Black Robin from the Chatham Islands of New Zealand.

[@Darkstar-se6wc]

Inbreeding isn’t that harmful to a group if the failures are ruthlessly culled, something nature is extraordinarily good at but humans are (understandably) reluctant to do.

[@SparkyFinch]

Glad to have you back, Stefan!

[@stupidminotaur9735]

During the bergiania land bridge was a thing american wooly mammoth were replacing the european ones. the Europeans were being hunted so much that the americans were replacing them. this from a old dna study on them.

[@JasonStire]

another banger stefan ! thanks for the good content

[@dixiecup6668]

Yessss my favorite channel

[@DragonFae16]

Another example of a population being continued by just a handful of individuals are cheetahs. DNA evidence shows that at one point the breeding population of cheetah fell to 7 to 8 individuals, just like the mammoths of Wrangle Island. This population drop happened at the same time as the extinction of the mainland mammoths, 10,000-12,000 years ago. Just goes to show that a tiny founding population doesn't doom a species.

[@levitatingoctahedron922]

people cry all day about inbreeding by using a few examples, the most popular one discussed in this video, but in reality it's not really an issue at all, it just carries risks. those 7-8 cheetahs that survived whatever enormous environmental pressures that were taking out their species were probably the prime, strongest members of their species.

[@DragonFae16]

@@levitatingoctahedron922 It's thought that if a founding population is small enough (about 7-8 individuals), the negative genes get so concentrated that they get bred out of the population. But the resulting population is definitely weaker than a population with a founding number of individuals to allow for high genetic diversity.

[@ventsislav1796]

Interesting really & also very distinct and understandable English! Thanks a lot!

[@lakrids-pibe]

I thought the Habsburg chin was an UNDER-bite? ( mandibular prognathism) Not that it changes the point you're making.

[@omgmo1962]

You're correct, it was just a misspeak

[@northerncaptain855]

The close proximity of the “first known” humans hunting on Wrangel Island and the time of extinction of the Wrangle Island Mammoths is so historically close as to more than strongly indicate human hunting as the cause of that extinction.

[@JimOrr-s8x]

Hi Stephan ,really thought provoking video👌. You’re right it is like time travel. It made me realise that the Wrangle island mammoths died out a thousand years after Otzi, the Iceman . Mind blowing !

[@AwesomeFish12]

Thanks Stefan. I enjoyed this one a lot.

[@Jobe-13]

I wish they were still around. As well as the elephant species that was also huge that went extinct.

[@Karsjk]

In a way they are. We have three remaining species of elephants. They are just as incredible, we're just so used to knowing that they're around, so they do not awe us the same way. Look at pictures of Satao or other huge tuskers. We have to appreciate them while we can, in some time they might become just as mythical as mammoths are to us now.

[@J.B.Ram1]

You're thinking Mastodons

[@thedankknight2066]

Another great video Stefan, love these!

[@bullettube9863]

In my imagination I see the last male mammoth wandering around looking for a female. Meanwhile on the other side of the island a female is wandering looking for a male. But alas one of them dies without finding the other. And so the last mammoth dies alone and becomes extinct.

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

It was an informative and wonderful scientific explanation about distinctive mammoths 🦣 and far north Russian tingor island . It was a magnificent video, thanks

[@benjaminstar6082]

Hello Stefan, I wanted to tell you that in Argentina they found a 20,000-year-old glyptodont that had cuts in its bones made by humans.