Prehistoric people in Eurasia, North America specifically hunted female mammoths, new study shows

New research indicates that Ice Age hunter-gatherers in Eurasia and North America were highly selective when hunting woolly mammoths, predominantly targeting females. These animals were a crucial resource, providing meat, fat, hides for clothing, and bones and tusks for tools, weapons, and art.

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That's a great question, and one we're still actively investigating.

Scientists analyzed genetic data from 521 mammoths across Eurasia and North America spanning approximately 50,000 years. At 11 human accumulation sites in Central and Eastern Europe and Siberia, about 70% of the studied mammoth bones belonged to females, compared to only 34% from mammoths found in natural settings, where males predominated (66%).

Lead author Hannah Moots, a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Palaeogenetics, stated that the reasons for this sex disparity are still under investigation. One leading hypothesis suggests that if woolly mammoths lived in female-led herds, similar to modern elephants, these groups might have moved across the landscape in more predictable, seasonal ways. Unlike solitary adult males that roam widely, female herds typically have stable home ranges and movement patterns, potentially making them easier for prehistoric people to locate repeatedly.

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One possibility is that if wooly mammoths lived in female-led herds like modern elephants, those groups may have moved across the landscape in more predictable, seasonal ways. Today, female elephant herds have relatively stable home ranges and movement patterns, whereas adult males are more solitary and often roam much more widely. That predictability may have made female-led herds easier for Ice Age people to locate repeatedly.

Another possibility, according to study co-senior author Love Dalén, is that herds with juveniles, where females would be reluctant to abandon them, could have been easier to corner. Dalén also noted that female mammoths were generally smaller than males, around 4 tons and 9.5 feet tall compared to males weighing up to 6 tons and standing 11 feet tall, making them potentially easier prey.

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One could also speculate that it would have been easier to pin down a herd with juveniles, where the females would have been reluctant to run away.