| Summary: | Extinct, but still endangered: How climate change threatens woolly mammoths. Rising temperatures as a result of current climate change cause coastal permafrost in the Russian Arctic to melt and expose its hidden treasures. Due to the excellent conservation in the frozen soil, mammoth tusks are of pristine quality and can serve as an alternative to modern elephant ivory. The local people of Yakutia take advantage of this and actively search and collect exposed tusks. Despite the high profits, these activities are dangerous for the ivory hunters and threaten the survival of mammoth remains and the information that scientists can derive from them. Nonetheless, without the efforts made by the ivory hunters, all material would irreversibly be lost to the sea.
|
|---|