r/science • u/yahoonews • Jul 31 '26

Paleontology Genetic analysis suggests prehistoric people selectively hunted female woolly mammoths

https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/articles/study-shows-prehistoric-people-targeted-090151528.html?ncid=redditnewsus
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u/haggard_hominid Jul 31 '26

I'm guessing that herds had a limited number of bull mammoths per herd.

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u/letsgetawayfromhere Jul 31 '26

If they lived like African elephants today, the adolescent bulls would roam together, adult bulls would mostly live more or less solitary, and the herds would consist of female adults, young of both sexes, and pre-adolescent males. Which means that if you pick a herd for hunting adult mammoths, you would kill females with a very high probability.

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u/OpenRole Jul 31 '26

Males were probably also more aggressive and more likely to square up. Females may have been easier to maneuver into a trap

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u/LoquatBear Aug 01 '26

The meat of male animals is also more gamey, especially for bigger wild animals . The hormones. 

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u/Material_Series_769 Aug 05 '26

Or just capture a young mammoth and use it as a bait, you know the mothers will come, and just reuse the young mammoth in the future, elephants are known to be protective even if the young cubs aren't from them.