Ice Age hay fever? Woolly mammoth extinction linked to pollen allergies — Study

An international collaborative effort by a team of chemists and zoologists has uncovered clues indicating that woolly mammoths might have struggled with allergies, contributing to their extinction.

Their analysis of frozen mammoth tissue revealed the presence of antibodies and allergens, hinting that these ancient creatures may have faced mating challenges due to a diminished sense of smell.

“This was the first study where fragments of immunoglobulins were found in remains tens of thousands of years old,” the study’s first author, Gleb Zilberstein, told The Telegraph .

Cause of death: A blocked nose?

Previous studies have established that woolly mammoths, distant relatives of today’s elephants, once roamed across North America, Asia, and northern Europe before going extinct roughly 4,000 years ago. While the leading theories for their extinction involve climate change and human hunting, this new research introduces an additional factor: allergies.

According to the research team, mammoths may have suffered from pollen-induced nasal congestion, impairing their ability to detect important scents, such as those of potential mates. The researchers highlighted that modern elephants heavily rely on their sense of smell to find food, water, and mates.

“The development of allergies from plant pollen, changes in pollen’s allergic toxicity, pollen’s release period increasing or the emergence of a large quantity of flowering plants during climate change, could lead to decrements in sensitivity to odors in animals during the breeding season. This may explain the extinction of animals due to a decrease in sexual intercourse,” says the study.

To delve deeper into this theory, the team examined several tissue samples from frozen mammoths discovered in Siberia. Their findings included traces of antibodies, suggesting immune responses to infections, as well as organic compounds linked to pollen, indicating the large animals were likely inhaling pollen-filled air.

Did mammoths really die out due to allergies?

The researchers propose that their discoveries point to woolly mammoths potentially suffering from allergies—an ancient hay fever of sorts—which may have hampered their ability to find food, water, and mates.

They also highlight that the mammoths ’ extinction coincided with a period of global warming, during which new plant species began to grow in their habitats. These plants likely released pollen into the air, potentially causing respiratory and olfactory issues for the animals.

The research team suggests that this pollen-related allergy could be a third factor contributing to the mammoths’ extinction, alongside climate change and human activity.

However, Vincent Lynch, an evolutionary biologist at the University at Buffalo, expressed skepticism , calling the idea “pretty far out there.”

While DNA evidence does suggest that later mammoths lost the ability to smell certain plants, Lynch emphasizes that further experimental validation is needed. He maintains that environmental changes and human interference remain the most plausible reasons for the species’ extinction .

The study was published in the journal Earth History and Biodiversity .