Cenozoic World

A clash of the mammoths could have taken place in what is now southern England thousands of years ago.

Fossils found in Buckinghamshire and Norfolk suggest that two types of mammoth lived side-by-side in prehistoric times.

Scientists believe herds of more advanced mammoths moving south from Siberia encountered primitive European ones.

The newcomers were better adapted to a cold climate and eventually outbred their contemporaries. But the European mammoths might have interbred with the Siberian invaders, leaving their mark in the gene pool.

Until recently it was thought that the woolly mammoth and the two species of mammoth that preceded it evolved gradually, never walking the planet at the same time.

But in the last few years the theory has been called into question by new fossils uncovered in Europe.

The discoveries, by a Russian and British expert, suggest that different species of mammoth co-existed at two critical stages in their evolution.

Climate change

Andrei Sher, of the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, said: "It's a classic concept that mammoth ancestors came from Africa 3-4 million years ago then gradually evolved in Eurasia during the course of climate change - the trend towards a colder climate.

"According to existing theory, their evolution in Eurasia was gradual, culminating in the woolly mammoth.

"In the last few years, new evidence has been emerging from Europe that doesn't fit the picture."

Three species of mammoth are known to have been present in Europe and Siberia.

The most primitive mammoth was the ancestral or early mammoth, which lived in Europe between about 2.5 million and 700,000 years ago.

This was followed by the steppe mammoth, which lived until about 200,000 years ago, then the woolly mammoth, which finally died out about 3,500 years ago.

"Climate cooling, the appearance of permafrost and a very harsh climate appeared in Siberia much earlier than in Europe," said Dr Sher.

"Consequently, the mammoths that lived there had to evolve much faster," he said. "The problem was how did they interact with the European mammoths?"

To answer that question, Dr Sher, and Dr Adrian Lister of University College, London, UK, looked at fossil samples from various sites in European Russia, Europe and Siberia.

They came to the conclusion that during two critical periods in the evolution of mammoths, Siberian mammoths migrated south and encountered their European relatives.

Clash of the giants

Evidence from a site in what is now West Runton, Norfolk, shows that steppe mammoths from Siberia encountered ancestral mammoths in England about one million years ago.

Mammoth teeth found at a second site, in the village of Marsworth, Buckinghamshire, point to a second clash of the giants, later in their evolution.

This took place about 190,000 years ago, between woolly mammoths from Siberia and the steppe mammoths of Europe.

Dr Adrian Lister, co-author of the mammoth study, published in the journal Science, believes the newcomers probably replaced the older mammoth populations.

"The older ones were dying out because the changed habitat wasn't to their liking," Dr Lister said. "Whereas the newcomers were adapted to the colder climate and more open treeless vegetation."

But Dr Lister believes there was probably limited interbreeding between the different mammoths, and even some squabbles.

"Closely related species like that wouldn't normally fight," he concluded. "But it's possible they could have fought over patches of feeding ground."

Images and text copyright © BBC or affiliates. Reproduction is made on a 'fair use' basis for the purpose of disseminating relevant information to a specific audience. No breach of copyright is intended or inferred.