Description
Woolly Mammoth
- Tusk Section from Alaska, Hair from Russia & Tooth Section from Alaska
- Pleistocene Age
- This collection comes in a 14.5″ long x 8″ wide x 1.75″ tall Riker Mount with Label as Shown
- MORE Fossil Mammals Fossils for Sale
The woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) is a species of mammoth that lived during the Pleistocene until its extinction in the Holocene epoch. It was one of the last in a line of mammoth species, beginning with the African Mammuthus subplanifrons in the early Pliocene.
WHEN DID THEY APPEAR?
The woolly mammoth began to diverge from the steppe mammoth about 800,000 years ago in East Asia. Its closest extant relative is the Asian elephant. The Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) lived alongside the woolly mammoth in North America, and DNA studies show that the two hybridised with each other.
WHAT DID THEY LOOK LIKE AND WHEN DID THEY DIE OUT?
Thriving during the Pleistocene ice ages, woolly mammoths died out after much of their habitat was lost as Earth’s climate warmed in the aftermath of the last ice age. The species is named for the appearance of its long thick coat of fur. Woolly mammoths stood about 3 to 3.7 metres (about 10 to 12 feet) tall and weighed between 5,500 and 7,300 kg (between about 6 and 8 tons). They had a yellowish brown undercoat about 2.5 cm (about 1 inch) thick beneath a coarser outer covering of dark brown hair that grew more than 70 cm (27.5 inches) long in some individuals.
Woolly mammoths had very long tusks (modified incisor teeth), which were more curved than those of modern elephants. The largest known male tusk is 4.2 m (14 ft) long and weighs 91 kg (201 lb), but 2.4–2.7 m (7.9–8.9 ft) and 45 kg (99 lb) was a more typical size. Female tusks were smaller and thinner, 1.5–1.8 m (4.9–5.9 ft) and weighing 9 kg (20 lb).
Royal Victoria Museum, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, 2018 By Thomas Quine
