Mammuthus primigenius
"Woolly mammoth" (Blumenbach, 1799)
"ma-mooth-uss prim-ee-gee-nee-uss"
Mammuthus primigenius lived in Europe at the end of the last Ice Age, 250,000 to 10,000 years ago. About the same size as a modern Asian elephant, woolly mammoths fed on tough grasses and shrubs that grew on the vast plains of tundra-steppe.
Whole frozen mammoths have been found in Siberia. Their massive bones and ivory have been collected from the permafrost for thousands of years. In fact, the name mammoth derives from old Estonian "maa": earth, and "mutt": hole, referring to the myth that mammoths were underground burrowers which died when their tunnels collapsed.
This particular species commonly is referred to as the "woolly mammoth" due to its thick, multi-layered fur coat, which helped it adapt to its cold environment. It had 3 inches of fat beneath the skin for extra insulation, and its ears were very small to avoid heat loss. Woolly mammoths' chewing teeth had a tight weave of enamel ridges and dentine on the grinding surface, ideal for a diet of tough grasses and shrubs.
Woolly mammoths disappeared at the end of the last Ice Age, perhaps a victim of a warmer, wetter climate or maybe hunted to extinction by man. Mammoths were not directly ancestral to any modern mammal species, so this particular lineage is now extinct.
Next Exhibit »
Size: 9-11 ft tall
