1. Climate Change:
* What likely happened: The end of the last Ice Age brought about rapid warming and changes in vegetation. This might have drastically altered the mammoths' habitat, making it harder to find food and survive.
* What could have prevented it: A less dramatic shift in climate, or a longer transition period, might have allowed the mammoths time to adapt. Imagine a slower warming trend, allowing plants to migrate gradually and mammoths to follow their food sources.
2. Human Hunting:
* What likely happened: Humans arrived in North America and Eurasia around the same time as mammoths began to decline. Evidence suggests humans actively hunted mammoths, potentially pushing them closer to extinction.
* What could have prevented it: If humans had arrived later, or if they had developed different hunting practices that didn't impact mammoth populations as severely, the outcome might have been different.
3. Disease:
* What likely happened: Some scientists theorize that a new disease, perhaps introduced by humans or other migrating animals, could have decimated mammoth populations.
* What could have prevented it: A disease less deadly or with a slower spread might have allowed mammoths to build immunity over time.
4. Combined Factors:
* What likely happened: It's highly likely that the extinction wasn't caused by one single factor, but a combination of climate change, hunting pressure, and disease.
* What could have prevented it: A more resilient mammoth population, perhaps with genetic diversity that allowed them to adapt to a changing world, might have survived longer. Alternatively, a different combination of factors, where one or more of the above were less impactful, could have kept mammoths around for longer.
It's important to remember that the extinction of the woolly mammoth was a complex event. While we can speculate about what might have changed the outcome, the ultimate cause remains a topic of ongoing scientific debate.