Final answer:
The last Ice Age saw dramatic climate changes, with extensive glaciation covering the Northern Hemisphere and peaking around 18,000 years ago. It concluded approximately 10,000 to 14,000 years ago, leading to the extinction of cold-adapted species like woolly mammoths.
Step-by-step explanation:
The last Ice Age was characterized by significant climatic shifts, resulting in large ice sheets covering much of the Northern Hemisphere. This ice age ended around 10,000 to 14,000 years ago, with the ice reaching its peak thickness nearly 18,000 years ago. During this peak, ice was nearly 2 kilometers thick over regions like Boston and extended as far south as New York City. The Quaternary Period brought about a series of ice ages, and the most recent glaciation period was part of the Pleistocene Epoch, which saw multiple glaciation periods with warmer intervals in between. As the climate warmed and ice melted entering an inter-glacial period, species adapted to cold climates such as woolly mammoths faced habitat destruction and extinction pressures from human over-hunting.