The largest mammoth fossil has been discovered in Mexico

Different to Europe, north American mammoths may not have had much fur -- adapted to the warmer climate of North America. The distribution extends from Canada to Nicaragua and Honduras.

Columbian mammoths became extinct between 13000 and 10000 years ago, and many palaeontologists believe prehistoric humans overhunted them.

According to Mexican remains, mammoths may have been trapped in lakeshore mud and died of starvation or drowning. Humans could use the trapped mammoth there as a source of meat. But it is not clear whether the traps were deliberately created or not. Perhaps the mammoths were just unlucky enough to be lured by the lake’s grasses and reeds. However, according to Sanchez Nava, the large number of bones may also indicate that humans cleverly exploited the adhesion of the lakeshore.

If this is true, it would mean that ancient humans were able to kill more mammoths than previously imagination. It may also suggest that mammoths were a staple of the ancient diet, rather than a rare feast as researchers had previously assumed.

However, fossils found at the site have not shown any signs of human involvement in the slaughter.

Another popular theory is that the mammoth became extinct because of habitat loss due to warmer weather at the end of the ice Age. According to Joaquin Arroyo-Cabrales, a palaeontologist at the Institute of Anthropology, it may also be a combination of the two factors.