Ice Age

Ice ages are periods in which major glaciations form around at least one polar region, which can extend into the mid-latitudes. There have been at least six ice ages in the history of the earth, the last of which, the "Quaternary Ice Age", began around 2.7 million years ago and continues to this day.
 
The temperature fluctuations between warm and cold periods have a significant impact on flora and fauna. In Europe, glaciers advance into the Alpine foothills during cold periods, only to melt again during warm periods. Species that are unable to adapt are displaced, while cold-resistant species migrate.
 
Today's flora and fauna were strongly influenced by this change, which led to the extinction of many large mammals such as the mammoth and cave bear. Hunting by humans may also have contributed to the disappearance of these species. At the same time, new species, such as the rock ptarmigan, emerged as a result of the climatic changes.
 
The Niederwenigen Mammoth Museum presents the rich fossil finds of mammoths, the characteristic animals of the cold period, and provides insights into further excavations that took place in collaboration with the Palaeontological Institute of the UZH.

When we think of ice ages, we often imagine icy landscapes. But not all Ice Age habitats were so unfriendly. One example is the mammoth steppe, which stretched across large parts of northern Eurasia and at times North America during a cold period 115,000 to 11,600 years ago. Most of these areas were not glaciated.
Switzerland, on the other hand, is characterised by mountains with a different vegetation and landscape structure. In addition, the climatic conditions in Switzerland during the cold periods were often wetter and less ideal for the spread of the typical steppe vegetation that characterised the mammoth steppe.
 
Between 26,000 and 20,000 years ago, the mammoth steppe was the largest biome on earth. Its formation was favoured by the following climatic conditions:

• Large ice sheets formed in the ice sheet, causing the seas to retreat and creating a dry continental climate.
• The glaciers ground the landscape and produced loose material, which the wind turned into loess and sand dust. This was deposited along dry river courses to form nutrient-rich layers of clay.
• A permafrost soil developed due to the low annual temperatures and low rainfall, which prevented the growth of trees.

 Today, the mammoth steppe no longer exists, and direct comparisons with present-day habitats are difficult. The alpine mats above the tree line and the highland steppe of Central Asia come closest, but are significantly wetter.
 
The flora of the mammoth steppe was reconstructed by analysing pollen from the digestive tract of mammoths in Siberia. The typical flora consisted mainly of herbs and species that are now found in arid areas, such as pumpelly's trespe (Bromus pumpellianus), hardroot (Artemisia frigida) and cutleaf anemone (Pulsatilla patens). Salt swathes, grass carnations (Armeria sp.), arctic avens (Dryas sp.) and whitlow-grasses (Draba) were also found there. The dwarf willow (Salix herbacea) was one of the woody plants of this steppe.
 
In addition to the mammoth, giant deer, caribou, steppe bison, horses and yaks also roamed the mammoth steppe. Important carnivores such as the cave lion, the wolverine, the cave hyena, wolves and bears lived in this habitat as well. However, the composition of the fauna varied greatly depending on the geographical location.

The traces of the Ice Age are still recognisable in our landscape today. Glaciers were and are landscape-changing forces! During their advances, the Ice Age glaciers carved out the large basins of the Pre-Alps and the Central Plateau. As they melted, they left behind huge moraines and long, narrow lakes. The boulders weighing several tonnes that were created by the excavation of the valleys are scattered across the Central Plateau, in Alpine valleys or in the Jura. They are also known as erratic blocks. Without the action of the glaciers, the alpine and pre-alpine landscape would have a completely different appearance.