At least 200 mammoth skeletons have A been discovered at an airport construction site outside Mexico City.
It is the world’s largest ?nd of mammoth bones. The hairy elephant-like animals are believed to have died off somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago.
Archaeologists hope the discovery will help solve the uncertainty around the species’ extinction.
There is an ancient lake bed on the site, which is believed to have attracted the mammoths. It seems the lake may have been surrounded by marshy soil, which could have caused the mammoths to get trapped and die.
There were also signs of human life at the site, with some mammoth bones turned into tools such as shafts and cutting implements.
Palaeontologists (scientists who study plant and animal fossils) believe a combination of humans and climate change could have led to the extinction of mammoths.
Although the discovery has slowed down construction work on the city’s new Santa Lucia airport, which is scheduled to open in 2022, this represents a ‘mammoth’ ?nd for the scientists involved.
Check out this video on how one man wants to bring back the woolly mammoth through scientific experiments! Click on the icon below.
