I’m stating an opinion of mine, based on what I think might have happened. Please read nothing more into it than a layman’s hypothesis.
Perhaps it’s even true, I’d love for someone actually skilled in the art to see if it is plausible and can be tested.
It would certainly explain why one mammoth was found with a mouth full of marigolds and a broken back!
Thank you. I don’t know how much you’ve read concerning the most recent extinction event(End Pleistocene) but there are any number of explanations for many of the anomalies relating to that period. As far as I know the only mammoth/mastodon found with buttercups or whatever in their mouths and/or stomachs were in Siberia which reportedly wasn’t covered with an ice sheet during the last glaciation. Fact is, evidence seems to indicate the climate was much milder then; maybe even sub-tropical. Go figger...
I am a trained anthropologist so you can trust me on this, a hairy a$$ed mammoth would like it a lot colder than a bald a$$ed mammoth would. they are going to be as far away from the equator as they can and still be able to find food.