Ice Age humans preferentially hunted female woolly mammoths, study shows

A multinational research team analyzed DNA from more than 500 woolly mammoth remains spanning Eurasia and North America. Published in the journal Current Biology, the study found that at archaeological sites linked to ancient human activity, about 70 % of the mammoth bones belong to females, while natural deposits contain roughly two‑thirds males. The researchers suggest several possible reasons: female mammoths were smaller and perhaps easier to kill, they moved in predictable herds, or humans simply encountered them more often. The work, which includes DNA sequencing of 448 previously unstudied specimens, covers sites dated between 30,000 and 20,000 years ago. Lead author Dr Hannah M. Moots of the Centre for Palaeogenetics in Stockholm, co‑author Dr Jarosław Wilczyński of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and University of Alaska Fairbanks paleoecologist Matthew Wooller explain that the findings illuminate both mammoth behavior and Ice Age hunting strategies, highlighting the importance of mammoths as a source of meat, hide, bone, and ivory for Upper Palaeolithic peoples.