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Woolly Mammoth

Order: Proboscidea

Family: Elephantidae

 

Most well known mammoth:

Genus and species: Mammuthus primigenius

 

 

Other related species include:

M. meridionalis     - Open woodlands of southern Europe                                     ~2 million years ago

M. trogontherii      - Central Europe, thought to be first to                                          develop a protective coat

 

North American mammoths include:                              

M. columbi and M. jeffersonii                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                                                                                                                                              

Key Facts

· Spread from Africa over much of Europe and Africa, and later moved to North America

· 2.8 metres tall, covered by an 8cm layer of fat beneath the skin and a coat of shaggy red hair

· Long tusks, much longer than modern day elephants, these were used to clear the snow from the ground vegetation

· Heat loss was reduced as much as possible by keeping a small surface area by having small ears and a short tail.

· Related female mammoths lived in herds led by a matriarch much like the lifestyle of elephants today.

· The mammoths lived side by side with humans, and died out only 12,000 years ago in Europe and 10,000 years ago in North America.  Was it climate change or human intervention that drove these majestic giants to extinction? This question is explored here.

 

Diet

· Fed entirely on plants

· In the stomachs of frozen carcasses remains of hornbeam and hazel twigs and leaves  have been found, which suggests they fed on woody vegetation

· They had similar teeth to modern day elephants

· Had to live mainly off fat reserves stored in the hump between the shoulder blades in the winter when snow thickly covered the vegetation or migrate southwards where the snow cover was less.

 

Enemies

· Men

· Armed with spears

· Ate the flesh and used the hides for clothing and stretching over huts

· Huts sometimes built using mammoth bones and tusks

· Sabre-toothed cat preyed on young mammoths

· Dire wolves hunted in packs and were ferocious enough to attack a fully grown mammoth

 

Breeding

· Resemble modern elephants - single calf after a gestation period of about 2 years

· Not thought to reach sexual maturity until aged 10 years or so

· Potentially lived for up to 60 years or more

 

 

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