The reading passage claims that human hunting was the primary cause of the woolly mammoth’s extinction, arguing that early humans overhunted these animals for food, fur, and materials. However, the professor in the lecture challenges this idea, stating that other environmental factors were more responsible for the species’ decline. First, the reading suggests that as humans migrated into mammoth habitats, they hunted these animals in large numbers, leading to a rapid decline in their population. The professor refutes this by explaining that human populations were too small to have wiped out mammoths. He argues that early humans lacked the numbers and resources to hunt enough mammoths to cause their extinction, and archaeological evidence does not show signs of large-scale hunting. Second, the reading claims that human hunting targeted younger mammoths, preventing population recovery. In contrast, the professor points out that changes in climate had a more significant effect on mammoth reproduction. He explains that warming temperatures led to habitat loss, reducing the availability of the cold, open landscapes that mammoths depended on. Without enough food and suitable conditions, mammoth populations declined regardless of human hunting. Finally, the reading argues that the disappearance of mammoths coincided with the spread of human civilizations, reinforcing the idea that humans played the biggest role in their extinction. However, the professor presents an alternative explanation: the spread of disease. He explains that humans and their domesticated animals likely introduced new diseases to mammoth populations, which weakened and reduced their numbers. This, combined with climate change, created an environment in which mammoths could not survive. In conclusion, while the reading attributes the woolly mammoth’s extinction to human hunting, the professor disputes this claim by arguing that small human populations could not have hunted them to extinction, that climate change played a larger role, and that diseases introduced by humans may have contributed more significantly to their decline.