Do you want to become the greatest hunter of the Stone Age? We will reveal all the secrets of the game and show you how to complete the quests. Little tricks will save you time and nerves.

Far Cry Primal– completing the quest hunting for a mammoth

In the game Far Cry Primal, the mammoth is the largest and strong beast. It is very important to keep your distance from such animals. You definitely need to use traps; they will delay the beast and give you the opportunity to regroup or run away. You can remove many useful things from the body of a mammoth.
In Far Cry Primal, hunting a mammoth is an exciting and dangerous activity. This is where the passage of this game begins, where a group of hunters and I will try to kill a baby mammoth that has strayed from the herd. When hunting a large animal such as a mammoth, it is important to separate it from the pack.
Advice: It is easier to kill an animal that no one is helping.

The developers have diversified the hunting of large animals. In Far Cry Primal, mammoth hunters can set traps on them or attack them en masse and beat them to death. If you are a lone hunter, then in Far Cry Primal how to kill a mammoth yourself? To do this, you will need at least 10 arrows, which it is advisable to launch from afar so that you can quickly hide. It is safer to use a trap and while the animal is stuck in it, hit it with a club or stab it with a spear.

Hand mammoth

The question arises in Far Cry Primal: how to tame a mammoth, when, not only to feed it, it’s creepy to approach it. To do this, you need to complete quests and tasks given by the villagers during the game, and unlock skills for the points you receive. You need to start small, gain experience and get to the group of insidious animals, where the mammoth will become available.

Feel like a mammoth

If you have the DLC installed, you will definitely come across the quest - The Legend of the Mammoth. Far Cry Primal Legend of the Mammoth, the passage of this quest will begin from the moment when the shaman in the village gives you a suspicious potion. Your spirit will be transported to the carcass of a huge mammoth and a task will appear - to find the killers of animals, your relatives. The torn remains of mammoths will lie around, and you must go in search of the killer, hot on their heels. Next, the spirit of the rhinoceros will be revealed, which became the cause of their death. After a short battle, he will begin to run away and when you catch up with him, the spirit will call upon assistants who will attack you. A couple of blows in response are usually enough for them, and they will crumble into pieces of ice. When you destroy all the rhinoceroses in the area, the spirit will try to hide again. Having caught up with him, you will again have to fight the rhinoceroses, which he will set against you. There will be more of them and they will attack more aggressively than the previous ones.

Tip: To make it easier to fight rhinoceroses in the second location, take a position on the top of the hill from where you came. When they respawn and attack in waves, it will be easier for you to fight them off in a narrow passage. You can also use them to roll down boulders that are lying around and thereby kill them.

After the victory, the spirit will again begin to fly away from you, it will lead you to a clearing with geysers and again a herd of rhinoceroses will attack you.
Advice: Never expose the side of a mammoth to a blow; a blow from the side of a rhinoceros is practically death. To make it easier to fight back, stand so that there is a tree in front of you, and a rock covers your back, and hit the enemies who will run up to you.

In the same way, you can easily deal with the boss - the spirit of the rhinoceros.

Mammoths and bipeds

Winter. Long gone are the times of glaciation in the highlands of North-East Yakutia. The flat, sometimes slightly hilly plain is covered with white snow. The dazzlingly bright rays of the sun play with multi-colored sparkles on this snowy white silence. In the weak wind, the yellow heads of rare cereals, protruding from under the snow, quietly sway. In the distance you can see the arched outline of a long lake - an oxbow lake. A herd of mammoths calmly grazes on its bend. Each of them resembles in size a huge cart or haystack, placed on four thick logs. But among them there are also very playful, active young animals of much smaller size. Not inferior in dimensions to modern ones big bulls, the “kids” start funny offensive-retreat games and run around their majestic relatives.

It's quiet and peaceful around. The giants of these expanses, deftly wielding their huge tusks, rake away the snow, and with their powerful jaws chew the withered grass and coarse shrubby vegetation extracted from under the snow.

But the silence on the snowy plain and the undisturbed peace of the mighty mammoths turned out to be deceptive. Patiently and quietly behind them Wise and treacherous two-legged creatures - people - closely watched. Hunters dressed in animal skins suddenly jumped out from behind the hills with deafening screams. The leader of the mammoths let out an alarming roar and led his herd away from the people - to the lake. The hunters' cunning trick worked: the animals ran towards their certain death. As soon as they began to cross the lake covered with ice and snow, terrible cracks appeared under their feet. The maddened animals instinctively gathered into a dense crowd. The half-meter ice could not withstand the weight of the animals accumulated in one place, and the entire herd of mammoths ended up in deep icy water. The mighty animals, in mortal horror, began to crush each other, floundering in the water, turning over multi-ton blocks of ice like light toys. The weak animals found themselves under water, while the strong ones furiously beat the edge of the ice with flexible trunks and strong tusks. But soon their strength ran out. An entire herd of mammoths perished and became the prey of savvy Stone Age hunters. The latter began to perform an unimaginably energetic ritual dance of good luck...

According to competent experts, the life of Stone Age tribes largely depended on the production of large animals. By hunting only small game they could not provide all the needs of their existence. People of the Stone Age, without having tools for hunting large animals, still knew the “Achilles heel” of such gregarious and heavy animals as mammoths. They were excellent at hunting mammoths and their companions (woolly rhinoceroses, bison, wild horses) by driving them through the ice.

Modern people are surprised by the huge accumulations of bones - cemeteries of mammoths of different ages. Scientists put forward different versions of the solution to this mystery. Very valuable finds often appear on the table of specialists - scraps of red, dark gray or black wool, bones with dried tendons. Occasionally, scientists get entire skeletons and remains of the corpses of mammoths, rhinoceroses, fossil bison and horses. Researchers study stone or bone arrowheads and spears of Stone Age hunters, argue about hunting methods and techniques, and are amazed at the ability of primitive people to survive in extreme glacial conditions.

Starting from the Stone Age, humanity passed through the Bronze and Iron Ages.

In human history, the Stone Age is approximately two million years old or a little more. Then people coexisted first with ancient elephants, then with mammoths and other giants who lived during the Quaternary glaciation.

According to research by P. Wood, L. Vachek et al. (1972), 400-500 thousand years ago in the European part of the world people hunted ancient elephants. On the territory of Yakutia (including the primitive people of Diring-Yuryakh), hunting tribes appeared about 35 thousand years ago. Before the complete disappearance of mammoths from the face of the earth, they at least hunted them for at least 250 centuries. During the Ice Age, these tribes spread to North America in search of prey.

Did people kill mammoths?

Scientists have long ago somehow agreed by default that modern man- the main enemy of all life on Earth. As it turned out, this is hereditary for him. According to American archaeologist Todd Sorovil, it was people who made a decisive contribution to the disappearance of mammoths from our planet.

Until now, it was believed that ancient mammals became extinct as a result of sudden climate change that occurred between 50 and 100 thousand years ago. Then two thirds of the animals died. Meanwhile, according to Sorovil, natural disasters played only a minor role in this. The scientist made his shocking conclusions based on a study of 41 areas in which the bones of elephant ancestors were found. Having compared these places, he discovered an interesting pattern: mammoths died out much faster where there were sites of ancient people nearby. In those areas where people did not have time to settle, the natural death of mammoths occurred much later.

Despite the absence of the greenhouse effect and ozone holes in those immemorial times, people, it turns out, managed well without the costs of the national economy. Although there was no global fur market then, mammoth skins were in great demand - apparently, this was the main attire of our prehistoric ancestors. And mammoth meat was perhaps the main delicacy. Moreover, they had to get it all on their own - active hunting ultimately led to the complete destruction of the “hairy elephants.”

http://www.utro.ru/articles/2005/04/12/427979.shtml

American scientists have dealt a crushing defeat to scientific opponents studying the reasons for the disappearance of mammoths from the face of the Earth, pointing out the absurdity of the assumption that they fell victim to the gastronomic intemperance of our ancestors. IN last years the unfortunate fact of the discovery of an extremely small number of complete skeletons of these fossil animals was explained by the fact that most of them fell under the primitive cutting knife. Other hypotheses, such as an environmental disaster or a deadly epidemic, were rejected as untenable.

But the Americans rehabilitated their ancestors. On international conference In Hot Springs, a researcher with the strikingly appropriate surname Firestone declared that it was not animal disease or human gluttony that killed the mammoths. They ceased to exist as a result of the activity of a supernova, which brought down a hail of radioactive meteorites on the Earth.

Until now, speaking about the disappearance of mammoths, scientists agreed on one thing - they completely died out 11-13 thousand years ago; everything else was just speculation. Richard Firestone voiced his. About 41 thousand years ago, a supernova appeared at a distance of 250 light years from Earth. First, cosmic radiation reached our planet, followed by a stream of ice particles, which began to bombard the mammoth habitats.

The Americans even found traces of this radiation, for which they had to go to Iceland and delve into marine sediments. Having dug to the right layers, they discovered an unusually high concentration of C-14 carbon, which was explained by the influence of radiation from that same ill-fated supernova. And in the layers corresponding to the period of the untimely death of mammoths, radioactive pieces of ice were discovered.

It should be noted that Mr. Firestone was so kind that he did not completely destroy all other hypotheses about the causes of the death of mammoths. With full confidence, he stated that only the inhabitants of North America fell from cosmic influence. However geographical position Iceland, namely: its equidistance from the North American continent and Eurasia, still leaves no reason to blame excessively voracious primitive people for the death of mammoths.

The mammoth is a mystery that has aroused the curiosity of researchers for more than two hundred years. What were they like, how did they live and why did they die out? All these questions still do not have exact answers. Some scientists blame them mass death famine, the second - the ice age, the third - ancient hunters who destroyed herds for meat, skins and tusks. There is no official version.

Who are mammoths

The ancient mammoth was a mammal belonging to the elephant family. The main species had sizes comparable to those of their close relatives - elephants. Their weight often did not exceed 900 kg, and their height did not exceed 2 meters. However, there were more “representative” varieties, whose weight reached 13 tons and height - 6 meters.

Mammoths differed from elephants in having a more bulky body, short legs and long hair. A characteristic feature is large curved tusks, which were used by prehistoric animals to dig out food from under snow rubble. They also had molars with a large number of thin dentino-enamel plates, which were used for processing fibrous roughage.

Appearance

The skeletal structure of the ancient mammoth is in many ways similar to the structure of the Indian elephant living today. Of greatest interest are the giant tusks, the length of which could reach up to 4 meters and weight up to 100 kg. They were located in the upper jaw, grew forward and bent upward, “spreading” to the sides.

The tail and ears, pressed tightly to the skull, were small in size, there was a straight black bang on the head, and a hump stood out on the back. The large body with a slightly lowered rear was based on stable legs-pillars. The legs had an almost horn-like (very thick) sole, reaching a diameter of 50 cm.

The coat had a light brown or yellowish-brown tint, the tail, legs and withers were decorated with noticeable black spots. The fur “skirt” fell from the sides, almost reaching the ground. The “clothes” of prehistoric animals were very warm.

Tusk

A mammoth is an animal whose tusk was unique not only for its increased strength, but also for its unique range of colors. The bones lay underground for several thousand years and underwent mineralization. Their shades have acquired a wide range - from purple to snow-white. Darkening, which occurs as a result of the work of nature, increases the value of the tusk.

The tusks of prehistoric animals were not as perfect as the tools of elephants. They were easily worn down and developed cracks. It is believed that mammoths used them to obtain food for themselves - branches, tree bark. Sometimes animals formed 4 tusks, the second pair was thin and often fused with the main one.

Unique colors make mammoth tusks popular in the production of luxury boxes, snuff boxes, and chess sets. They are used to create gift figurines, ladies' jewelry, and expensive weapons. Artificial reproduction of special colors is not possible, which explains the high cost of products created from mammoth tusks. Real ones, of course, not fake ones.

Everyday life of mammoths

60 years is the average life expectancy of giants who lived on earth several thousand years ago. Mammoth - its food was mainly herbaceous plants, tree shoots, small shrubs, and moss. The daily norm is about 250 kg of vegetation, which forced the animals to spend about 18 hours daily on feeding and constantly change their location in search of fresh pastures.

Researchers are convinced that mammoths practiced a herd lifestyle and gathered in small groups. The standard group consisted of 9-10 adult representatives of the species, and cubs were also present. As a rule, the role of leader of the herd was assigned to the oldest female.

By the age of 10, the animals reached sexual maturity. At this time, matured males left the maternal herd, moving to a solitary existence.

Habitat

Modern research has established that mammoths, which appeared on earth approximately 4.8 million years ago, disappeared only about 4 thousand years ago, and not 9-10, as previously thought. These animals lived on the lands of North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Bones of mighty animals, drawings and sculptures depicting them are often discovered at the sites of ancient inhabitants

Mammoths in Russia were also common in large quantities, Siberia is especially famous for its interesting finds. A huge “cemetery” of these animals was discovered in Khanty-Mansiysk, even a monument was erected in their honor. By the way, it was in the lower reaches of the Lena that the remains of a mammoth were first (officially) found.

Mammoths, or rather their remains, are still being discovered in Russia.

Causes of extinction

Until now, the history of mammoths has large gaps. In particular, this concerns the reasons for their extinction. A wide variety of versions have been put forward. The original hypothesis was proposed by Jean Baptiste Lamarck. According to the scientist, the absolute extinction of a biological species is not possible, it only turns into another. However, official descendants of mammoths have not yet been identified.

I disagree with my colleague, blaming the death of mammoths on a flood (or other global disasters that took place during the period of extinction of the population). He argues that the Earth has often experienced short-term catastrophes that completely exterminated a particular species.

Brocchi, a paleontologist originally from Italy, believes that every living creature on the planet has a certain period of existence. The scientist compares the disappearance of entire species with the aging and death of an organism, which is why, in his opinion, the mysterious history of mammoths has ended.

The most popular theory, which has many adherents in the scientific community, is climate theory. About 15-10 thousand years ago, due to the northern zone of the tundra-steppe, it became a swamp, and the southern zone was filled with coniferous forests. The grasses that previously formed the basis of the animals’ diet were replaced by moss and branches, which, according to scientists, led to their extinction.

Ancient hunters

How the first people hunted mammoths has not yet been established exactly. It was the hunters of those times who are often accused of exterminating large animals. This version is supported by products made from tusks and skins, which are constantly discovered in the sites of the inhabitants of ancient times.

However, modern research makes this assumption increasingly questionable. According to a number of scientists, people only finished off weak and sick representatives of the species, without hunting healthy ones. Bogdanov, the creator of the work “Secrets of the Lost Civilization,” gives reasonable arguments in favor of the impossibility of hunting mammoths. He believes that the weapons that the residents possessed ancient earth, it is simply impossible to pierce the skin of these animals.

Another compelling argument is the stringy, tough meat, almost unsuitable for food.

Close relatives

Elefas primigenius - this is the name of mammoths in Latin. The name indicates their close relationship with elephants, since the translation sounds like “first-born elephant.” There are even hypotheses that the mammoth is the progenitor of modern elephants, which were the result of evolution, adaptation to a warm climate.

A study by German scientists who compared the DNA of mammoth and elephant suggests that the Indian elephant and mammoth are two branches whose genealogy has been traced back to the African elephant for some 6 million years. The ancestor of this animal, as modern discoveries have shown, lived on Earth approximately 7 million years ago, which makes the version valid.

Known specimens

“The Last Mammoth” is a title that can be assigned to baby Dimka, a six-month-old mammoth whose remains were found by workers in 1977 near Magadan. About 40 thousand years ago, this baby fell through the ice, which caused his mummification. This is by far the best preserved specimen yet discovered by mankind. Dimka has become a source of valuable information for those researching the extinct species.

Equally famous is the Adams mammoth, which became the first full-fledged skeleton to be shown to the public. This happened back in 1808, since then the copy has been located in the Museum of the Academy of Sciences. The find belonged to the hunter Osip Shumakhov, who lived by collecting mammoth bones.

The Berezovsky mammoth has a similar story; it was also found by a tusk hunter on the banks of one of the rivers in Siberia. The conditions for excavating the remains could not be called favorable; the extraction was carried out in parts. The preserved mammoth bones became the basis for a giant skeleton, and soft tissues became the object of research. Death overtook the animal at the age of 55.

Matilda, a female of a prehistoric species, was discovered by schoolchildren. An event happened in 1939, the remains were discovered on the banks of the Oesh River.

Revival is possible

Modern researchers never cease to be interested in such a prehistoric animal as the mammoth. The significance of prehistoric finds for science is nothing other than the motivation underlying all attempts to resurrect it. So far, attempts to clone the extinct species have not yielded tangible results. This is due to the lack of material of the required quality. However, research in this area is not going to stop. Currently, scientists are relying on the remains of a female found not so long ago. The specimen is valuable because it has preserved liquid blood.

Despite the failure of cloning, it has been proven that the appearance of the ancient inhabitant of the Earth has been restored exactly, as well as his habits. Mammoths look exactly as they are presented on the pages of textbooks. The most interesting discovery- the closer the period of residence of a discovered biological species to our time, the more fragile its skeleton is.

Different humanity Burovsky Andrey Mikhailovich

How did you hunt a mammoth?

How did you hunt a mammoth?

About trapping pits for mammoth as the only one possible way their extraction was written in the 19th century by such a great scientist, without exaggeration, as V.V. Dokuchaev.

This corresponded to the ideological ideas of society. One part of educated society refused to even discuss the possibility that mammoths and humans could coexist. This is against God! The other part of the educated society consisted of evolutionists, but the evolutionists knew everything in advance: a wild man with stone tools could not hunt such a large animal!

Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov on assignment Historical Museum in Moscow he painted the painting “Hunting for a Mammoth.” It was written in 1885, but is still reproduced in textbooks and popular books. This is a wonderful picture. It is very well made, and, of course, everything is depicted “as it should be.” Here is a mammoth in a huge pit, and a hunter struck by its tusks, whom his friend is holding by the hand. And a crowd of wild “Paleolithics” who throw stones at the mammoth.

Here an elderly warrior with a wild cry throws a huge stone at a mammoth. The skins in which people are wrapped flutter, stones fly, a mammoth roars, a wounded man lies with his face distorted from pain and fear... Very artistic. Everything was as we imagined in late XIX century.

There’s just one problem: the mammoth lived in different climatic zones, but was also found in those places where permafrost was widespread... Including in modern Yakutia... and in Kostenki, near modern Voronezh, during the era of mammoth hunting, the climate was closer to the subarctic. And there they also hunted him.

It would probably be cruel to take Vasnetsov to modern Yakutia and ask him to dig a hole for a mammoth, even with an iron shovel. It would be wrong to mock this worthy man. But this sinful desire appears in me every time I look at his wonderful picture.

Or maybe this is how they hunted mammoths?

This same idea of ​​a mammoth trap is reproduced in many books for teenagers. One of them, very popular, describes in detail how an ancient man digs such a trap, how he catches a mammoth and kills it, and one of the hunters falls into a hole and is trampled by the mammoth.

So picturesque and literary works recorded the outdated point of view of vulgar materialism and its brainchild - unilinear evolutionism.

Nowadays, along with the leading theory of driven hunts and ideas about the role of hunting with a spear, there are simply defiantly bold assumptions that the coexistence of mammoth and man is not a struggle, but a symbiosis.

Not to mention the fact that many African tribes are known to go after an elephant with a spear alone. They kill the elephant both from the approach, sneaking up on it, and from ambush, but the heavy losses of people during these hunts are unknown.

Was this known in the 19th century? Was. In 1857–1876 Africans killed about 51 thousand elephants with the simplest weapons. True, the Africans did not act for food, but to sell ivory to Europeans. The most important thing is that technically the “overkill” was at least theoretically possible. But scientists preferred to believe in pitiful paleolithics, incapable of active hunting.

From the book Walking to the Cold Seas author Burlak Vadim Nikolaevich

Red Mammoth Island

From the book Who's Who in Russian History author Sitnikov Vitaly Pavlovich

From the book Resurrection of Little Russia author Buzina Oles Alekseevich

Chapter 23 How Little Russians hunted witches in the old days. For some reason it happened that different lands of the former Russian Empire supplied literature with regional varieties of evil spirits. St. Petersburg churned out aristocratic devils, proof of which is Lermontov's

author

From the book Monsters of the Deep Sea author Euvelmans Bernard

The monster must be hunted as meteors were once hunted. As for the method, Dr. Udemans applied in his work the method used by Kladney in his classic work on meteors, which appeared in Vienna in 1819. Udemans himself said this in the preface. At all times

From the book Baptism of Rus' - a blessing or a curse? author Sarbuchev Mikhail Mikhailovich

From the book Prehistoric Europe author Nepomnyashchiy Nikolai Nikolaevich

Constellation Orion on the mammoth tusk Samaya ancient map The constellation Orion is 30 thousand years old. On a smooth tablet made of mammoth ivory, found in 1979 among silty sediments in a cave in the Alpine valley of Ach, German archaeologists examined, on one side, many small

From the book 100 Great Mysteries Ancient world author Nepomnyashchiy Nikolai Nikolaevich

Constellation Orion - on a mammoth tusk A small bone plate 38 mm long, 14 mm wide and 4 mm thick is probably not integral part something bigger. According to German archaeologists, this is evidenced by the nature of the patterns: they cover the entire surface

From the book Cross against Kolovrat - the thousand-year war author Sarbuchev Mikhail Mikhailovich

Church of St. Mammoth Today we are witnessing how various nations “create” their own history according to “tasks” current moment" This falsification is not created by people, but by elites for specific purposes. Quite often the interests of these elites lie beyond

From the book Three Million Years BC author Matyushin Gerald Nikolaevich

11.6. Who did the Olduvai people hunt? Around residential areas in Olduvai, the fossilized remains of giraffes, various antelopes and a tooth of Deinotherium, an extinct elephant, were found. The Olduvai people ate heavily and may have preferred to dine outside rather than in a shelter where there was no room.

Where did mammoths come from? What kind of life did you lead? Why did they die out? The scientific community has been struggling with these mysteries for several centuries. And each new study refutes the previous one.

Yakut treasures

It all started with the Amsterdam burgomaster Witsen, when in 1692 he first described an intact mammoth carcass found in Yakutia. He didn't even know what he would give new life extinct animal species. Modern scientists increasingly call Yakutia the homeland of mammoths. This may not be the historical homeland, but at least it is the place with the highest concentration of mammoth populations in the past.

In recent years, the largest number of animal remains have been found here (according to statistics, about 80%), including well-preserved ones. I was especially struck by scientific world the latest discovery is a 60-year-old female mammoth. But its uniqueness lies not so much in the preservation of the tissues, but in the liquid blood contained in them. This find could give scientists new knowledge about the genetic and molecular composition of primitive animals.

Mammoths began to die out due to warming

To this version in Lately More and more scientists are inclined. Dr. Dale Guthrie from the University of Alaska, who did radiocarbon dating of the remains of animals and people who lived more than 10 thousand years ago, agrees with her. According to Guthrie, climate change transformed a dry and cold area into a wetter and warmer one, which in turn led to a modification of vegetation - something the mammoths simply did not have time to adapt to.
Other scientific evidence confirms the decline of tundra forests, the main habitat of mammoths. Like reindeer Mammoths, depending on the time of year, wandered in search of their usual food - in the summer they moved to the north, and in the winter to the southern regions. And then one day they were faced with a lack of tundra vegetation.

In 1900, on the banks of the Berezovka River, a mammoth carcass, virtually untouched by time and predators, was discovered. Later, other similar remains were found. Some details, including unchewed grass, suggested that the animals died suddenly. The version of murder was dropped immediately - there were no signs of damage. Scientists puzzled over this mystery for a long time and finally came to an unexpected conclusion - the animals died after falling into the melted wormwood. Over time, researchers were able to discover more and more animals that ended up in the old riverbeds. The rise in temperature played a cruel joke on them.

Here is another fact in favor of the version of the extinction of animals due to global warming. Researchers have found that during the process of climate change, mammoths also changed their size. During the ice ages (Zyryan and Sartan times) they became larger, and during periods global warming(Kazantsev and Kargin times) they became smaller. It follows from this that cold was more preferable to mammoths than warmth.

People didn't hunt mammoths

According to one hypothesis, the mammoths were exterminated by hunters, at least, British naturalist Alfred Wallace was inclined to believe this version. Indeed, many items made from mammoth skin and tusks are found at ancient human sites. We also know about people hunting mammoths from school textbooks. However, modern researchers claim that man did not hunt mammoths, but only finished off sick and weak animals. The fact is that with warming, the groundwater that rose to the top washed out the minerals from the soil that were part of the plant food of the mammoths. The fragility of the bones, which appeared as a result of a poor diet, made the giants vulnerable to humans.

A.V. Bogdanov in his book “Secrets of the Lost Civilization” convincingly proves the impossibility of people hunting mammoths. A modern elephant has a skin of about 7 centimeters, and a mammoth, due to a layer of subcutaneous fat, had it even thicker. “Try yourself with a stick and a stone to pierce the skin, which does not burst even from the tusks of five-ton males,” says the writer.
But then Bogdanov is even more convincing. Among the reasons, he cites the very tough and stringy mammoth meat, which was practically impossible to eat, as well as the actions necessary for successful hunting that were beyond the strength of even a large group of people. To catch even a medium-sized specimen, you need to dig a hole of at least 7 cubic meters, which is impossible to do with primitive tools. It is even more difficult to drive a mammoth into a hole. These are herd animals, and when trying to take even a baby from the herd, hunters risked being trampled by multi-ton carcasses.

Contemporaries of the Egyptian pyramids

Until recently, it was believed that mammoths disappeared from the face of the earth 10,000 years ago. But at the end of the 20th century, the remains found on Wrangel Island significantly corrected the dating. Based on the data obtained, scientists have determined that these individuals died approximately 3,700 years ago. “Mammoths inhabited this island when the Egyptian pyramids already stood and the Mycenaean civilization flourished,” states Frederik Paulsen. The Wrangel Island mammoths lived when most of these animals on the planet had long since disappeared. What made them move to the island? This remains a mystery for now.

Holy tooth

In the Middle Ages, people who unearthed the bones of mammoths had no idea who they belonged to and often mistook them for the remains of cynocephali, huge creatures with a dog’s head and a human body, who lived in legendary times. For example, in Valencia, a mammoth molar tooth was a sacred relic, which according to legend belonged to the “dog-headed” Christopher, a holy martyr revered by the Catholic and Orthodox Church. It was recorded that during processions back in 1789, canons also carried a mammoth femur along with a tooth, passing it off as a fragment of the saint’s hand.

Relatives

Mammoths are close relatives of elephants. This is what they say scientific name Elefas primigenius (translated from Latin as “first-born elephant”). According to one version, the elephant is the result of the evolution of a mammoth, which adapted to a warmer climate. Perhaps this is not so far from reality, because mammoths of late times corresponded in their parameters to the Asian elephant.

But German scientists compared the DNA of an elephant and a mammoth, and came to a paradoxical conclusion: the mammoth and the Indian elephant are two branches that descended from the African elephant about 6 million years ago. Indeed, recent studies have shown that the ancestor of the African elephant lived on earth more than 7 million years ago, and therefore this version does not seem fantastic.

"Resurrect" the giant!

Scientists have been trying to “resurrect” the mammoth for quite some time. So far to no avail. The main obstacle to the successful cloning of an extinct animal, according to Semyon Grigoriev (head of the P. A. Lazarev Mammoth Museum), is the lack of source material of adequate quality. But, nevertheless, he is convinced of the good prospects of this endeavor. He places his main hopes on a recently extracted female mammoth with preserved liquid blood.
While Russian scientists are trying to recreate the DNA of an ancient animal, Japanese experts have abandoned ambitious plans to populate the Russian Far East mammoths due to the futility of the idea of ​​their “resurrection”. Time will tell who was right.