PREHISTORIC & EXTINCT ANIMALS

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Today's elephants have much in common with mammoths-- including tusks and trunks.

ORDER Proboscidea	FAMILY Elephantidoe	GENUS & SPECIES Mammathus primigenius
*One of several species of huge, hairy, elephantlike creatures, the now extinct mammoth roomed the earth untill as recently as 10,000 years ago.* ~~~ DESCRIPTION ~~~ Slightly larger then today's elephonts. ~ Longer tusk, up to 16 feet long. Mammoths survived arctic temperatures, thank to extra fat stores and hairy coats. ~ Evidence suggests they existed in large numbers. crossing the tundra in huge herds, searching for food. KEY FATS SIZE Height: 12ft ~ Tusks: Up to 16 ft ~ Weight: 13,225 - 15,450 lb. BREEDING Sexual maturity : 10 - 12 years. ~ Gestation: Probably 22 mounths. ~ No. of young: 1. OTHER MAMMOTHS M. meridionalis evolved in the open woodlands of southern Europe about 2 million years ago. It resembled the modern Indian elephant. M. trogontherii of central Europe was probably one of the first mammoths to develop a protective hairy coat.

BREEDING

Mammoths' many similarities to day's elephants help scientists to guess fairlly accurately about mammoth reproduction. Single calves were probably born after a gestating period of 22 months. Well-developed social system helped to ensure long periods of post-natal care. Sexual maturity was reached after 10-12 years.

DIET Mammoyhs were entirely herbivorous, or plant- eating. The remains of hombearm and hazel planets have been found in the stomach contents of mammoths. Their teeth became well worm from chewing such food. In fact mammoths' teeth were almost identical to those of today's elephants'. Mammoths living futhest north had a more difficult time finding plants to freed on because of the frozen ground. Their fat, which was especially thick around the shoulders, was used as an emergency store of food.	*Mammoth Tooth*
PREDATORS The enormous size of fullgrown mammoths meant that only the most fearless predators would dare to attack them. Man hunted mammouths with spears and axes, putting the carcasses to a variety of use. After they had eaten the flesh , they would use the hide for clothing and for stretching over huts, which were ogten built with the bones and tusks. The fearsome saber-toothed cat shared the hairy mammouth's enviroment and probably preyed on the young. The cat could easily have overpowered small mammoth calives. Packs of an early species of dire wolf were probably the only threat to the safety of an adult mammoth besides man.
*DID YOU KNOW ?* A few complete specimens of marmmoth have been discovered deep- frozen in the ice of the Arctic tundra Guests at a modem scientific banquet were served small portions of mammoth steak, taken from animals frozen for thousands of years. Miners in Alaska still find mammoth fossil remains regularly. So many remains of the mammoth have been found that there is still a small trade in mammoth ivory in parts of Siberia. Because of the cold climate it lived in, the mammoth's ears were much smaller than today's elephants'.
FOOD AND ENEMIES OF THE MAMMOTH The plant-eating hairy mammoth ate hornbeam and hazel, and was no threat to animal species. But it was hunted by man, and its young were preyed on by the saber-toothed cat.
WHEN & WHERE THEY LIVED Remains have been found in Siberia, northern Europe, northern Eurasia, and North America. Mammoths existed until about ten thousand years ago.
ARCTIC NEIGHBOR *The mammoth shared the Arctic wastes of eastern Asia and Europe with the woolly rhinoceros Coelodonta* .**

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