What is a Mammoth?
Mammoths are large proboscideans (elephant-like animals) that lived during the Pleistocene, Pliocene, and early Holocene epochs — 4.8 million to around 4,500 years ago. They were probably made extinct by humans. Mammoths are all members of the genus Mammuthus. Mammoths were herbivorous, like their living relatives the elephants, and would have consumed around 250 kg (550 lb) of fresh vegetable matter a day, which would have been difficult in glacier-covered Eurasia. Mammoths had long, shaggy hair to help them survive the Ice Age environment, along with massive tusks, used for defense from predators such as predatory felines, canids, and humans. Mammoths were part of a larger trend in evolution in the Ice Age which favored larger animals. These animals are called the megafauna, and most went extinct when their habitats changed and they became susceptible to hunting by humans. At least eleven species of mammoth are recognized: Mammuthus columbi (Columbian mammoth), Mammuthus primigenius
Evidently a variety of elephant, mammoths belong to the mammalian order Proboscidea. Mammoths (genus Mammuthus) had the usual elephantine features of a trunk and tusks. Mammoths had a large shoulder hump and a sloping back; small ears and tail; very complex teeth; a small trunk with a distinctive tip with two finger-like projections; huge, spirally curved tusks up to 3.5 m (11.5 feet) long; and spiral locks of dark hair covering a silky underfur. Some were huge the Columbian mammoth measured up to 4+ meters (14 feet) high at the shoulders about the same size as the largest living elephants. But the woolly mammoth was smaller, and there were dwarf mammoths only two meters (six feet) tall. Where did they come from? The answer to such questions about the past comes from the Word of one who was there the Creator. He revealed in Genesis that He created land animals and people on Day Six of Creation Week (Genesis 1:2427). This passage teaches that God made distinct kinds of animals, which wo
Evidently a variety of elephant, mammoths belong to the mammalian order Proboscidea.3 Mammoths (genus Mammuthus) had the usual elephantine features of a trunk and tusks. Mammoths had a large shoulder hump and a sloping back; small ears and tail; very complex teeth; a small trunk with a distinctive tip with two finger-like projections; huge, spirally curved tusks up to 3.5 m (11.5 feet) long; and spiral locks of dark hair covering a silky underfur.4,5 Some were huge — the Columbian mammoth measured up to 4+ metres (14 feet) high at the shoulders — about the same size as the largest living elephants. But the woolly mammoth was smaller, and there were dwarf mammoths only two metres (six feet) tall.
The Mammoth genus is an extinct group of animals that are closely related to the modern elephants. They are believed to have originated in Africa. It made it’s way into Asia, Europe, and North America. Many of the species found in northern regions evolved to have long thick hair to tolerate the freezing weather. Mammoths lived between approximately 4 million years and 4,000 years ago. The last of the mammoths died out during the last ice age. Today, the remains of Mammoths are found throughout the northern regions of Russia, Europe, and Alaska. During the very short summer season, the snow melts away enough to partially expose parts of buried tusks and sometimes even complete skeletons. You may remember a show on the Discovery Channel a few years back, Raising the Mammoth, where a team excavated a complete mammoth that had been frozen for thousands of years. The mammoth ivory used to make the netsuke and other ivory items we sell on our site originate in Siberia. Help us help others by
