Day 16 Based on the characteristics of mastodon bone sites, I miss them very much and it can be inferred that, as in modern proboscideans, the mastodon social group consisted of adult females and young, living in bonded groups called mixed herds. The males abandoned the mixed herds once reaching sexual maturity and lived either alone or in male bond groupings. As in modern elephants,there probably was no seasonal synchrony of mating activity, with both males and females seeking out each other for mating when sexually active. On the other hand, environmental DNA sequencing indicates that disappearance of megafaunal DNA in North America correlates in time with major changes in plant DNA, suggesting a key role of climate change Modeling based on the whole of the proboscid fossil record also suggests climate was the more important factor, though with human hunting imposing a "double jeopardy" on mastodons and their ice age creatures kin.