And for a while, they did, here on Wrangel Island off the coast of Siberia.

事实上的却如此，在西伯利亚海岸的弗兰格尔岛上，它们的确幸存了。

When people finally reached Wrangel Island 4,000 years ago, these last remaining mammoths also became extinct.

当4000年前，人类最终到达弗兰格尔岛后，这里的最后一支猛犸象族群也灭绝了。

There are no mammoths on Wrangel Island today, but it is home to another large animal, the polar bear.

如今，弗兰格尔岛上已经没有猛犸象了，但是这里又成为另一种大型动物的栖息地——北极熊。

But the Wrangel Island mammoths were special.

但弗兰格尔岛的猛犸象很特别。

But on Wrangel Island, these mammoths made their last stand.

但在弗兰格尔岛，这些猛犸象进行了最后的抵抗。

But the few hundred survivors on Wrangel Island had found themselves an almost perfect refuge.

但弗兰格尔岛上的数百名幸存者发现自己几乎是一个完美的避难所。

And unfortunately, the Wrangel Island mammoths may have been doomed from the start.

不幸的是，弗兰格尔岛的猛犸象可能从一开始就注定失败。

This island -- now known as Wrangel Island -- was once connected to Siberia by land bridges and ice shelves.

这个岛——现在被称为弗兰格尔岛——曾经通过陆桥和冰架与西伯利亚相连。

Now we'll never know if this mutational meltdown was the deciding factor in the Wrangel Island mammoths' eventual disappearance about 4000 years ago.

现在我们永远不知道这种突变崩溃是否是弗兰格尔岛猛犸象在大约 4000 年前最终消失的决定性因素。

Now these are estimates that can vary by species, but either way, the Wrangel Island population was almost certainly just too small.

现在这些估计值可能因物种而异，但无论哪种方式， 弗兰格尔岛的人口几乎都太少了。

It's also worth noting that all this info comes from the genome of a single Wrangel Island mammoth - the only one with remains preserved well enough for this analysis.

还值得注意的是，所有这些信息都来自单个弗兰格尔岛猛犸象的基因组——唯一保存完好的猛犸象可以进行本次分析。

And Wrangel Island itself was only big enough to sustain a couple hundred mammoths So the group couldn't really grow to meet or exceed the minimum viable population size.

弗兰格尔岛本身的面积只够养活几百只猛犸象，所以这个群体无法真正增长到达到或超过最小可行种群规模。