Mammoth Extinction and Creationist Explanations

One of the greatest mysteries in the world for both mainstream evolutionists and creationists to explain is the sudden extinction of millions of mammoths in Siberia, Alaska, and the Yukon territory during or after the Ice Age. The carcasses of these mammoths, which resemble hairy elephants with longer tusks, have been found in many places in Siberia, Alaska, and Yukon leaving many to question the cause of their demise along with other mammals in the area. Another related question is how these animals survived here in the first place with the most bitter cold temperatures on earth most of the year, while in the summer months the permafrost soil melts into boggy vegetation creating a landscape unsuitable for most mammals. Many creationists believe that there was warmer climate conditions in this region and that a "quick freeze" in Siberia spurred by the global flood of Genesis caused an ice age to begin, causing the mammoths to perish soon after. Scientists believe that the climate during the life of the mammoths and the other mammals living in the area was much different before the Ice Age and was much warmer and pleasant, and included grassland for the animals to graze on. Other creationists, however, do not accept a quick freeze explanation and believe that other events caused their death, including the Genesis Flood itself. Evolutionists propose events such as astronomical catastrophes or pole shifts causing large temperature change for the death of the mammoths. However, none of the evolutionist explanations give a reasonable answer to the question. Creationists have the better explanations for the mammoth extinction while the evolutionists cannot explain how the mammoths were living in this harsh environment in the first place. Only the 6,000-year creationist model gives a reasonable explanation of the mammoth extinction, whether during the flood itself or during the following ice age spurred by the flood where warm temperatures in this region plunged dramatically and made life impossible. Creationist Michael Oard has proposed that the mammoths perished after the Genesis Flood and during the Ice Age as large dust storms carrying wind-blown sediment known as loess buried these animals, since many mammoth carcases have been found in this type of sediment, which is produced by glacial ice.

The extinction of the woolly mammoth: was it a quick freeze? Oard, M.J., 2000. Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal 14(3):24–34.