After attributing the disappearance of the woolly mammoth to the first Americans and climate change, scientists have come up with a new explanation: a comet killed the large animal off more than 10,000 years ago.
One group of scientists found evidence of a comet that exploded over Canada about 12,900 years ago.
They say the impact killed off the mammath and other mega-faune and destroyed their habitat.
Another group used DNA samples to compare mammoths in America to those in Europe and Asia. They identified two distinct genetic groups, indicating one species died off in Siberia long before the one that lived in North America.
Get the Story:New Theory on Old Debate: Comet Killed the Mammoth (The Washington Post 6/11)
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