2014届高考英语考前突破阅读理解能力：《猛犸象灭绝源于气候变化》.docVIP

猛犸象灭绝源于气候变化 Researchers have found evidence to suggest that climate change, rather than humans, was the main factor that drove the woolly mammoth to extinction.? 研究人员发现导致猛犸象灭绝的证据，不是人类活动，而是气候变化。 The traditional view of the woolly mammoth as a hardy, abundant species will have to change ? A DNA analysis shows that the number of creatures began to decrease much earlier than previously thought as the worlds climate changed. ? It also shows that there was a distinct population of mammoth in Europe that died out around 30, 000 years ago. ? The results have published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. ? The view many researchers had about woolly mammoths is that they were a hardy, abundant species that thrived during their time on the planet. ? But according to the scientist who led the research, Dr Love Dalen of the Swedish Museum of Natural History, the study shifts that view. ? The picture that seems to be emerging is that they were a fairly dynamic species that went through local extinctions, expansions and migrations. It is quite exciting that so much was going on, he told BBC News. ? Dr Dalen worked with researchers in London to analyse DNA samples from 300 specimens from woolly mammoths collected by themselves and other groups in earlier studies. ? The scientists were able to work out how many mammoths existed at any given time from the samples as well as tracing their migration patterns. They looked at the genetic diversity in their samples - the less diverse the lower the population. ? They found that the species nearly went extinct 120,000 years ago when the world warmed up for a while. Numbers are thought to have dropped from several million to tens of thousands but numbers recovered as the planet entered another ice age.? ? The researchers also found that the decline that led to their eventual extinction began 20,000 years ago when the Ice Age was at its height, rather than 14,000 years ago when the world began to warm again as previously thought. ? Th