timerover51
Deity
well im no scientist, but im not sure they should only be available in tundra, cold regions yes since they were fury animals, but its believed they went instinct due to a sudden climate change. Catastrophism followers go as far as believing the regions they inhabitted were once fertile, but some disaster caused a sudden pole shift, moving the north pole from north america to where it is now with a change of the earth's axis, if so, Siberia for instances was in the temperate zone then, while northern europe and america was further north in the frigid zone, europe wasnt very habitable north of the iberic peninsula, but due to a different earth axis (tilt), what is now east of europe was to the south-east then, so temperature was much better in places like the asian steppes, making them excellent grounds for large mammals.
Some of that is what im trying to represent in my mod, the Atlantean Chronicles, where the end if the ice age didnt happen exacly like it did, and Mammoths still exist by the time of the Sumerians, and so do the Atlanteans since the second event that caused the end of the ice age and rise of sea levels didnt take place. So im hoping to see a few different War Mammoth units, with flavors for Amerindian, Celt/Germanic and Asian civs
There are indications that a remnant population of dwarf mammoth survived on Wrangell Island off of the north coast of Siberia up to about 3,000 years ago, which would put them as around up to 1,000 BC. They may have been hunted to extinction by proto-Eskimo tribes or perhaps ancestors of the current Chukchi tribes. It is possible that the climate and plant life currently existing in central Alaska would be suitable for mammoth survival, as their demise there might be linked to overhunting by the early natives of the area.
I am using tundra for their location primarily because cold steppe is not an option for terrain in the game. You need to remember that during the Ice Age, with the ice sheets extending so far south, that the climate existing just to the south of the sheets would be much different from current northern tundra. You would not have the extreme day-night cycle of the Far North, which translates into a longer growing season, and a much wider range of plant growth. Nor would you likely be dealing with permafrost to the degree that you have now in the Arctic area. There is quite a trade in fossilized mammoth ivory in Alaska, as I have a couple of animal figures, a seal and a walrus, carved from it.
