Olivia+A.

__**Killer Quicksand**__
 * __How Did The Mastodons Become__ ****  __Extinct__  **
 * __By Olivia Aslan__ **


 * 4,826 bones were just found in Snowmass Village. Wow! That’s a lot of bones. 26 vertebrates of Mammoths, Mastodons, Bisons, Camels, a Pleistocene horse, and the first Ground Sloth ever! How on earth did all these Mastodons get here?! **


 * Quicksand might have been the answer to how all these animals were trapped in the same general area. But how did the quicksand get here with the ice age climate the Mastodons were living in? ****  The ice age was already ending. mastodons were quickly dying off from the rapid climate change causing them to become sick and die from diseases. Other animals were dying from the change in their life cycle. All of the food was different so they weren't sure what they could and could not eat. The Mastodons became desperate for food and venturing into danger was a risk they were willing to take. Quicksand is hard to notice so many of them fell into it without even realizing it.  **


 * Cold weather was already collapsing into a warmer breeze causing the ice age to slowly deteriorate causing quicksand to appear. **
 * This drastic weather change was causing the Mastodons to die off and get infected with diseases that quickly wiped out the Mastodon population. The environment of the ice age was an extremely cold woodlands. this gave the Mastodons a slight advantage because their teeth were made for chewing on leaves and herbs.Other animals that happen to be bigger and more of a threat picked off smaller animals and used them as a meal. **


 * Scientist will probably never find out the true reason why Mastodons went extinct so rapidly and I guess we never will know. **

By Vicious Bits


 * http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1438/4721025820_140214dd9f.jpg **

By Shandchem

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3515/3822397959_0b45ffa07c_m.jpg