Difference between mammoth and elephant. Woolly Mammoth Origin of Mammoths

1. Mammoths are the largest mammals that became extinct 10 thousand years ago. Mammoths are members of the elephant family.

Mammoths reached a height of 5.5 meters and a body weight of 10-12 tons. Thus, these giants were twice as heavy as the largest modern land mammals - African elephants.

2. The genus of mammoths included many species. A dozen different types of mammoth lived in North America and Eurasia during the Pleistocene era, including the steppe mammoth, the Columbus mammoth, the pygmy mammoth, and others. However, none of these species was as widespread as the woolly mammoth.

3. The Russian word "Mammoth" comes from the Mansi "Mang Ont" (earthen horn) - the name, logically, of a fossil tusk. And when the animal was classified, the name from the Russian language fell into all others (for example, the Latin "Mammuthus" and the English "Mammoth").

4. Mammoths died out about 10 thousand years ago during the last Ice Age. Some experts do not rule out that humans have changed the climate, destroying mammoths and other northern giants.

5. With the disappearance of large mammals that produce large amounts of methane, the level of this greenhouse gas in the atmosphere should have decreased by about 200 units. This led to a cooling of 9-12°C about 14 thousand years ago.

6. Mammoths had a massive body, long hair and long curved tusks; the latter could serve the mammoth for getting food in winter from under the snow.

7. Huge tusks in large males reached 4 meters in length. Such large tusks most likely characterized sexual attractiveness: males with longer, curved and imposing tusks were able to mate with more females during the breeding season.

8. Also, tusks may have been used defensively to drive away hungry saber-toothed tigers, although there is no direct fossil evidence to support this theory.

9. The gigantic size of the mammoth made it a particularly desirable prey for primitive hunters. Thick woolen hides provided warmth in cold times, and tasty fatty meats were an indispensable source of food.

10. There is a suggestion that the patience, planning and cooperation required to capture mammoths has become a key factor in the development of human civilization!

woolly mammoth

11. The most famous type of mammoth is the woolly mammoth. It appeared on the territory of Siberia 200-300 thousand years ago, from where it spread to Europe and North America.

12. During the Ice Age, the woolly mammoth was the largest animal in the Eurasian expanse.

13. It is assumed that living mammoths were painted black or dark brown. Since they had small ears and short trunks (compared to modern elephants), the woolly mammoth was adapted to life in cold climates.

14. In Siberia and Alaska, there are known cases of finding whole corpses of mammoths, preserved due to their stay in the thickness of permafrost.

15. As a result, scientists do not deal with individual fossils or several bones of skeletons, but can even study the blood, muscles, hair of these animals and also determine what they ate.

Image of a mammoth in an ancient cave

16. From 30,000 to 12,000 years ago, the mammoth was one of the most popular objects of Neolithic artists, who depicted images of this shaggy beast on the walls of numerous caves in Western Europe.

17. Perhaps primitive paintings were intended as totems (that is, early people believed that the depiction of a mammoth in cave paintings made it easier to capture him in real life).

18. Also, the drawings could serve as objects of worship or talented primitive artists were simply bored on a cold, rainy day.

19. In 2008, an unusual accumulation of bones of mammoths and other animals was discovered, which could not have appeared as a result of natural processes, for example, hunting of predators or death of animals. These were the skeletal remains of at least 26 mammoths, and the bones were sorted by species.

20. Apparently, for a long time people kept the most interesting bones for them, some of which bear traces of tools. And there was no shortage of hunting weapons among people at the end of the Ice Age.

21. How did ancient people deliver parts of mammoth carcasses to the sites? Belgian archaeologists have an answer to this: they could transport meat and tusks from the place of butchering carcasses on dogs.

22. In winter, the coarse wool of a mammoth consisted of hair 90 centimeters long.

23. An additional thermal insulation for mammoths was a layer of fat about 10 centimeters thick.

Columbian mammoth

24. According to the structure of the skeleton, the mammoth bears a significant resemblance to the living Indian elephant. Huge mammoth tusks, up to 4 meters in length, weighing up to 100 kilograms, were located in the upper jaw, pushed forward, bent upwards and diverged to the sides.

25. As abrasion, the teeth of a mammoth (like that of modern elephants) changed to new ones, and such a change could take place up to 6 times during a lifetime.

26. Woolly mammoths began to die out 10 thousand years BC, but the population on Wrangel Island disappeared only 4000 years ago (At that time, the Palace of Knossos was being built on Crete, the Sumerians were living out their last days and 400-500 years had passed since the Great Sphinx and Pyramid of Cheops).

27. It is assumed that woolly mammoths lived in groups of 2-9 individuals and were led by their older females.

28. The life expectancy of mammoths was about the same as that of modern elephants, i.e. 60–65 years.

29. Already in ancient times, man figured out what and how to use to his advantage. Even at home, he built from the bones of huge animals.

30. The hump on the back of a mammoth is not the result of vertebral processes. In it, animals accumulated powerful reserves of fat, like modern camels.

Sungari mammoth

31. The Sungari mammoth was the largest of all mammoth species. Some individuals of the Sungari mammoth living in Northern China reached a mass of about 13 tons (compared to such giants, a 5-7 tons woolly mammoth seemed short).

32. The most recent mammoths, living 4000 years ago, were also the smallest, since the so-called phenomenon took place. island dwarfism, when the size of animals isolated in a small area decreases radically over time due to lack of food. The height at the withers of mammoths from Wrangel Island did not exceed 1.8 meters.

Mammoths in the museum

33. Mammoths grazed in herds of 15 animals and dispersed during the day, and returned at night, gathered together and arranged a common overnight stay.

34. They lived near water sources, surrounded by reeds, fed on branches and bushes. 350 kilograms of grass per day is an approximate norm for one mammoth.

35. From mosquitoes (in the hot months of summer), animals hid in the tundra, and in autumn they returned to the rivers in more southern regions.

36. A mammoth monument was erected in Salekhard.

37. The largest number of mammoth bones are found in Siberia.

38. Giant cemetery of mammoths - New Siberian Islands. In the last century, up to 20 tons of elephant tusks were mined there annually.

pygmy mammoth

39. In Yakutia there is an auction where you can buy the remains of mammoths. The approximate price of a kilogram of mammoth tusk is $200.

40. Fishing for mammoth ivory is often carried out illegally by black diggers. The method of extracting the bones from the soil is to wash out the soil with a powerful jet of water using a fire pump. The extraction of tusks is illegal in two respects. Firstly, from the point of view of the legislation of the Russian Federation, tusks are minerals that are the property of the state, and diggers sell them for personal purposes. Secondly, along with the soil, the flow of water destroys the tissues of animals preserved in the permafrost, which are of great value to science.

imperial mammoth

41. In the western hemisphere, the palm belonged to the imperial mammoth, the males of this species weighed more than 10 tons.

42. There is also a monument to mammoths in Khanty-Mansiysk.

43. Products from mammoth tusks are much cheaper than products from the tusk of modern elephants, due to the illegal fishing of the latter and relatively large fossil reserves in Western Siberia.

44. Now, “ivory” refers specifically to mammoth ivory (with the exception of items that were made when elephant hunting was not yet banned).

45. The evolutionary branches of the Indian elephant and mammoths diverged 4 million years ago, and with the African elephant - 6 million, thus, the Indian elephant is genetically closer to the mammoth.

steppe mammoths

46. ​​The ancestor of the woolly mammoth - the steppe mammoth exceeded its descendant in size: it had a height at the withers of 4.7 meters, when the height of the woolly mammoth did not exceed 4. The steppe mammoth lived on the territory of the Southern Urals, modern Kazakhstan, the Stavropol Territory and the Krasnodar Territory; died out with the onset of the ice age.

47. Even today, 10,000 years after the last ice age, the northern regions of Canada, Alaska and Siberia have a very cold climate, keeping numerous mammoth bodies practically intact.

48. Identification and extraction of giant corpses from blocks of ice is a fairly simple task, it is much more difficult to keep the remains at room temperature.

49. Since mammoths became extinct relatively recently, and modern elephants are their closest relatives, scientists are able to collect mammoth DNA and incubate it in a female elephant (a process known as “de-extinction”).

50. Researchers recently announced that they have almost completely decoded the genomes of two 40,000-year-old specimens. Unfortunately or fortunately, the same trick won't work with dinosaurs, as DNA doesn't hold up as well for tens of millions of years.

The solution to the fate of woolly mammoths can shed light on what happened on our planet many tens and hundreds of years ago. Modern paleontologists are studying the remains of these giants in order to find out more precisely how they looked, what kind of life they led, who they are to modern elephants and why they died out. The results of the research work will be discussed below.

Mammoths are large herd animals belonging to the elephant family. Representatives of one of their varieties, called the woolly mammoth (mammuthus primigenius), inhabited the northern regions of Europe, Asia and North America, presumably in the interval from 300 to 10 thousand years ago. Under favorable climatic conditions, they did not leave the territory of Canada and Siberia, and in harsh times they crossed the borders of modern China and the United States, ended up in Central Europe and even in Spain and Mexico. In that era, Siberia was inhabited by many other unusual animals, which paleontologists combined into a category called "mammoth fauna". In addition to the mammoth, it includes such animals as the woolly rhinoceros, primitive bison, horse, tour, etc.

Many mistakenly believe that woolly mammoths are the progenitors of modern elephants. In fact, both species simply have a common ancestor, and, therefore, a close relationship.

What did the animal look like?

According to the description compiled at the end of the 18th century by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, the woolly mammoth is a giant animal, whose height at the withers reached about 3.5 meters with an average weight of 5.5 tons, and a maximum weight of up to 8 tons! The length of the coat, consisting of coarse hair and thick soft undercoat, reached more than a meter. The thickness of mammoth skin was almost 2 cm. The summer coat was somewhat shorter and not as thick as the winter coat. Most likely, she had a black or dark brown color. Scientists explain the brown color of the specimens found in the ice by the fading of the wool.

According to another version, a thick layer of subcutaneous fat and the presence of wool are evidence that mammoths constantly lived in a warm climate with an abundance of food. Otherwise, how would they be able to work up such significant body fat? Scientists who adhere to this opinion cite two types of modern animals as an example: rather plump tropical rhinos and slender reindeer. The presence of wool in a mammoth should also not be considered evidence of a harsh climate, because the Malaysian elephant also has a hairline and at the same time feels great living on the equator itself.

Many thousands of years ago, high temperatures in the Far North were provided by the greenhouse effect, which was caused by the presence of a steam-and-water dome, due to which abundant vegetation was present in the Arctic. This is confirmed by the many remains of not only mammoths, but also other heat-loving animals. So, in Alaska, skeletons of camels, lions and dinosaurs were found. And in areas where today there are no trees at all, thick and rather high trunks have been found along with the skeletons of mammoths and horses.

Let us return to the description of mammuthus primigenius. The length of the tusks of older individuals reached 4 meters, and the mass of these bony processes twisted upwards was more than a centner. The average length of the tusks varied within 2.5 - 3 m with a weight of 40 - 60 kg.

Mammoths also differed from modern elephants in their smaller ears and trunk, the presence of a special growth on the skull, and a high hump on the back. In addition, the spine of their woolly relative in the back curved sharply down.

The latest woolly mammoths living on Wrangel Island were significantly inferior in size to their progenitors, their height at the withers was a little less than 2 meters. But, despite this, in the era of the ice age, this animal was the largest representative of the fauna throughout Eurasia.

Lifestyle

The basis of the diet of mammoths was vegetable food, the average daily volume of which included almost 500 kg of various greens: grass, leaves, young tree branches and needles. This is confirmed by studies of the contents of the stomachs of mammuthus primigenius and indicates that giant animals chose to inhabit areas where both tundra and steppe flora were present.

Giants lived up to 70 - 80 years. They became sexually mature at 12-14 years of age. The most viable hypothesis suggests that the way of life of these animals was the same as that of elephants. That is, mammoths lived in a group of 2-9 individuals, which was headed by the eldest female. Males, on the other hand, led a solitary lifestyle and joined groups only during the rut.

Artifacts

Bones of mammuthus primigenius are found in almost all regions of the northern hemisphere of our planet, but Eastern Siberia is the most generous for such “gifts from the past”. During the life of the giants, the climate in this region was not harsh, but mild, temperate.

So, in 1799, on the banks of the Lena, the remains of a woolly mammoth were first found, which was called “Lensky”. A century later, this skeleton became the most valuable exhibit of the new St. Petersburg Zoological Museum.

Later, such mammoths were found on the territory of Russia: in 1901 - "Berezovsky" (Yakutia); in 1939 - "Oeshsky" (Novosibirsk region); in 1949 - "Taimyrsky" (Taimyr Peninsula); in 1977 - (Magadan); in 1988 - (the Yamal peninsula); in 2007 - (Yamal peninsula); in 2009 - baby mammoth Khroma (Yakutia); 2010 - (Yakutia).

The most valuable finds include the "Berezovsky mammoth" and the baby mammoth Khroma - individuals completely frozen in a block of ice. According to paleontologists, they have been in ice captivity for more than 30 thousand years. Scientists managed to obtain not only ideal samples of different tissues, but also to get acquainted with food from the stomach of animals that had not had time to be digested.

The richest place for the remains of mammoths are the New Siberian Islands. According to the descriptions of the researchers who discovered them, these territories are almost entirely composed of tusks and bones.

Thanks to the material collected in 2008, researchers from Canada managed to decipher 70% of the woolly mammoth genome, and 8 years later, their Russian colleagues completed this grandiose work. Over many years of painstaking work, they were able to collect about 3.5 billion particles into a single sequence. In this they were helped by the genetic material of the aforementioned Khroma mammoth.

Reasons for the extinction of mammoths

Scientists around the world have been arguing for two centuries about the reasons for the disappearance of woolly mammoths from our planet. During this time, many hypotheses have been put forward, the most viable of which is considered to be a sharp cooling caused by the destruction of the steam-water dome.

This could happen for various reasons, for example, due to the fall of an asteroid to Earth. The celestial body, when falling, split the once single continent, due to which the water vapor above the planet's atmosphere first condensed, and then poured out in a heavy downpour (about 12 m of precipitation). This provoked an intense movement of powerful mud flows, which on their way carried away animals and formed stratigraphic layers. With the disappearance of the greenhouse dome, ice and snow bound the Arctic. As a result of this, all representatives of the fauna were instantly buried in the permafrost. Therefore, some woolly mammoths are found "fresh frozen" with clover, buttercups, wild beans, and gladioli in their mouths or stomachs. Neither the listed plants, nor even their distant relatives now grow in Siberia. Because of this, paleontologists insist on the version that mammoths were killed at lightning speed due to a climate catastrophe.

This assumption interested paleoclimatologists and, taking the results of drilling as a basis, they came to the conclusion that in the period from 130 to 70 thousand years ago, a rather mild climate reigned in the northern territories located within the 55th and 70th degrees. It can be compared with the modern climate of the north of Spain.

Every year, scientists find more and more bones, tusks and teeth of mammoths in the glaciers of Northern Europe and Siberia. Such finds do not allow discussions about the reasons for the extinction of these ancient mammals to cool down.


Experts put forward many different hypotheses, but so far none of them has been confirmed. What could have led to their death? Why did the mammoth fauna die out?

When did mammoths live?

It is well known that the first mammoths appeared in the Pliocene era (about 5.3 million years ago) and existed until about the 7th millennium BC. Most of them had dimensions similar to those of modern elephants, but there were among the animals both rather large species, reaching a height of 5 meters, and small ones, growing up to only 2 meters.

The main differences between mammoths and elephants were the presence of a dense hairline and long, curved tusks, which helped to get food in winter.

The main ranges of mammoths were North America, Africa, Europe and Asia. Most often, researchers find only their individual bones, but in Siberia and Alaska there are cases of discovery of whole corpses that have managed to survive well to this day in permafrost conditions.

When did mammoths become extinct?

Most of the mammoths died about 10,000 years ago, when the so-called Vistula Ice Age reigned on the globe. It was the last in a series of ice ages and ended around 9600 BC.


It is noteworthy that in addition to mammoths, 34 more genera of mammals disappeared at the same time, including the bighorn deer and the woolly rhinoceros. The extinction was accompanied by climate change and the transformation of tundra-steppes into modern forest-tundra and marshy-tundra biotas.

Why did mammoths become extinct?

Scientists have been arguing about the reasons for the extinction of mammoths for many decades. A variety of versions are put forward, even quite exotic ones, such as the fall of a comet and a large-scale epidemic.

Most of the assumptions are not supported by other specialists, but today there are at least two hypotheses that may well explain the disappearance of animals. It is believed that mammoths could have become victims of Upper Paleolithic hunters or died as a result of a sharp climate change.

Extermination of mammoths by hunters

The version about hunters was proposed by the British naturalist Alfred Wallace at the end of the 19th century. The scientist considered that it was the hunt for mammoths that caused their complete extermination. Wallace's conclusions were based on the discovery of an ancient human site that contained a huge accumulation of mammalian bones.

It is believed that about 32 thousand years ago people settled in the north of Eurasia, and 15 thousand years ago they reached North America and began to actively hunt for food. Of course, they could not completely destroy the entire species, but global warming “helped” them in this, which came after the ice age and led to a reduction in the mammoth fauna.

Mammoth extinction due to climate change

Supporters of the hypothesis believe that the role of man in the disappearance of mammoths is greatly overestimated. In their opinion, the mass extinction began long before the appearance of people in the territories inhabited by mammals. In addition, in addition to mammoths, many other animals died 10 thousand years ago, which ancient people did not hunt.

Thus, human intervention plays a secondary role, and global warming and the reduction of food used by mammoths for food are called the main cause of extinction.

The latest study, conducted by scientists at the California Institute in 2012, showed that over the past 30 thousand years of the existence of mammoths, their number has changed several times. With the onset of heat about 40 thousand years ago, the population increased, and with the advent of cold weather 25 thousand years ago, it decreased.


In connection with the cooling, most of the animals were forced to migrate from Northern Siberia to the warmer southern regions, but even there the grassy steppes were soon replaced by forests. As a result, due to lack of nutrition, the mammoth fauna was significantly reduced, and subsequently completely disappeared from the face of the Earth.

It is believed that the word "mammoth" comes from the phrase "mang ont", which in translation from Mansi means "earth horn". Then it passed to other languages ​​of the world, including English. These huge animals lived during the Pleistocene era. They inhabited the territory of Europe, North Asia and North America. Many researchers and archaeologists are still concerned about the mystery: how did these animals disappear from the face of the Earth?

Finds in Russia

The mammoth is an extinct animal species. It is one of the closest relatives of the elephant. Until now, scientists are arguing about when the mammoths became extinct. At the excavations of the sites of an ancient man, which belong to the Stone Age, drawings of these animals were found. In the Voronezh region, archaeologists have discovered the bones of mammoths. From them, the ancient man built his dwelling. There is an assumption that they were also used as fuel.

Both in Siberia and Alaska, researchers have found the corpses of mammoths, which were preserved thanks to permafrost. In the book by Oleg Kuvaev called "Territory" you can even read the story of how one of the archaeologists knitted himself a sweater from the wool of an ancient animal. Scientists find the remains of mammoth bones in the most unexpected places. Teeth and bones are often found in the Moscow region and even on the very territory of the capital.

Appearance of animals

In size, mammoths were no larger than a modern elephant. However, their torso was more massive, and their limbs were shorter. The wool of mammoths was long, and at the top of the jaw they had menacing tusks up to 4 meters long. In winter, with the help of these tusks, like a bulldozer, the animals raked the snow. Some subspecies of mammoths reached an unprecedented weight - as much as 10.5 tons.

Inhabitants of Wrangel Island

There are many theories about when mammoths became extinct. One of them belongs to the candidate of geological sciences Sergey Vartanyan. In 1993, on the territory of Wrangel Island, he discovered the remains of the so-called dwarf mammoths. Their growth did not exceed 1.8 m. The researchers, using radiocarbon analysis, came to the conclusion that mammoths could live here 3.7 thousand years ago.

Before this discovery, scientists believed that the last mammoths could live in Taimyr about 10 thousand years ago. The find of the scientist showed that these animals lived on Wrangel Island at the same time as the flourishing of the Minoan culture on the territory of about. Crete, the Sumerian civilization, and the 11th Dynasty pharaohs in Egypt.

Key Assumptions

Currently, there are two main hypotheses that explain why mammoths became extinct. According to the first, this happened due to the deterioration of climatic conditions. Proponents of another hypothesis believe that the main reason was human activity - hunting. In the era of the Upper Paleolithic, people have already settled throughout the Earth. It was at this time that these huge animals were exterminated.

Main hypothesis

Studies show that mammoths began to die out as a species quite a long time ago - about 120 thousand years ago. The final disappearance occurred at the turn between two ice ages. Gradually, the population decreased from several million to tens of thousands. During the ice age, it was so cold on Earth that the grass that these animals ate became a rarity. Grasslands in the north gradually began to turn into forests and tundra. The result of the extinction of this species was precisely the cooling due to the beginning of the ice age.

Epidemic hypothesis

The mammoth is an extinct animal, but it is very difficult to say why this species disappeared from the face of the Earth. There is another theory: American scientists Preston Max and Ross McPhee hypothesized that an epidemic could be the cause. People who then shared territory with mammoths were able to adapt and survive. And it was more difficult for animals to develop immunity because of their huge size and sluggishness. When mammoths became infected, they went to water bodies and died there. Scientists have noticed that the largest number of burials of these animals is located just on the banks of rivers and lakes.

However, some archeological finds do not support this hypothesis: in the stomachs of animals, scientists often find undigested food, and in the mouths - the remains of grass. Apparently, the moment when the mammoths died out happened quite suddenly.

space invasion

There is another assumption about why mammoths died out and when. It is believed that they could be killed by a huge comet that collided with the Earth 13 thousand years ago. Because of this comet, the researchers believe, people were forced to take up agriculture. Archaeologists found data on the collision in southern Turkey. The comet destroyed not only mammoths, but also other types of animals. It was because of this that people had to leave hunting and gathering and turn to agricultural labor.

Disappearance due to incest

There is another theory, according to which the last mammoths remaining on about. Wrangel, became extinct due to inbreeding. This term refers to inbreeding, which results in various deformities and genetic anomalies. Thus, the extinction of these animals was due to the reduction of genetic diversity. On the territory of Wrangel lived about 500-1000 individuals - at least, such estimates are given by scientists. And 500 individuals is the minimum number that is necessary for the survival of any species of endangered animals.

The approximate time when mammoths, or rather the last of their representatives, died out was about 4 millennia ago. However, shortly before the death of this population, another small group of animals fought for survival on the modern territory of St. Paul's Island. It lies between the coast of Alaska and the Far East.

Why did mammoths become extinct?

In the 3rd grade, students study this topic. Children need to explain very clearly the reasons for the disappearance of these animals. Therefore, we can recommend that students and their parents use the main two hypotheses about the disappearance of these ancient animals. However, in addition to the two assumptions that hunters exterminated mammoths and that they could disappear from the face of the Earth due to deteriorating climatic conditions, other theories can be covered in the homework. For example, extinction due to a collision with a comet or due to inbreeding.

Arguments against hypotheses

Many archaeologists do not agree with the hypothesis of the extinction of these animals due to hunting for them. For example, about 13 thousand years ago, an ancient man had already mastered the entire expanse of Siberia. However, the time when the last mammoths in this area died out was about 10 thousand years ago. The researchers note that hunting animals of this size was dangerous and impractical. In addition, setting traps in frozen ground must have taken a lot of time and effort, especially considering that it was carried out using rather primitive tools.

However, other animals disappeared from the planet at the same time that mammoths died out. The history of the world has data that in the same era the wild horses that lived in the vastness of America also disappeared. Researchers have a natural question: if mammoths died out, then why did their contemporaries survive: bison, caribou, musk oxen?

In addition, a wild horse survived - tarpan, which was exterminated only in the second half of the 19th century. Despite the abundance of hypotheses, it is believed that the most reasonable is the theory of the impact of the ice age. A study by American scientist Dale Garty confirms the climate hypothesis. The scientist came to the conclusion about its reliability, having studied hundreds of remains of mammoths and people. Mammoths easily endured severe frost, but when it became warmer, the snow froze on their long wool, and this was a real disaster. Wool became an ice shell, which did not protect the animal from the cold.

bone disease

Another assumption was made by scientists who conducted a study of the remains of animals found in the Kemerovo region. Archaeologists believe that mammoths could have disappeared here due to bone disease - there was a decrease in calcium levels in local waters. Animals tried to find salt licks to make up for this deficiency, but this did not help them escape. The weakened mammoths were guarded by an ancient man. Each of the hypotheses has the right to exist - after all, if none of the assumptions can be proven, then they cannot be refuted.

Many prehistoric animals arouse burning curiosity among our contemporaries. Take, for example, mammoths, whose images flash on the pages of zoology textbooks and television screens. Were they the progenitors of the current representatives of the world of fauna, and for what reason did their extinction occur? Answers to these questions excite many to this day. We will try to analyze how a mammoth differs from an elephant.

Definitions

Mammoth- an extinct species of mammals belonging to the elephant family and living in the Quaternary period. They were distributed on the territory of modern Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. Numerous bones of these animals have been found in the sites of ancient people. In Alaska and Siberia, there are known cases of the discovery of the corpses of mammoths, preserved due to centuries of stay in the permafrost. Most representatives of the species died out about 10 thousand years ago during the Vistula ice age.

Elephant- a representative of the family of mammals of the proboscis order. It is the largest land animal. The life expectancy of an elephant is equal to that of a human and reaches an average of 70 years. This is the only representative of the fauna world that cannot jump. Surprisingly, such a large and clumsy animal is able to develop impressive speed when running (about 30 km / h). In addition, elephants are very good swimmers. They can cover distances of tens of kilometers on water. At the same time, animals do not need long sleep - four hours of rest per day is enough for them.

Comparison

Let's start with the fact that the average height of a prehistoric animal was about 2 meters, and the weight reached 900 kg. These indicators are quite comparable with the parameters of modern elephants. However, there were subspecies of mammoths about 4-6 meters tall and weighing up to 12 tons. The body, head and trunk of the animal were covered with dense hair of a light brown or yellowish-brown hue. The magnificently developed sebaceous glands of a mammal increased the thermal insulation properties of its fur. The 8-10 cm subcutaneous fat layer also perfectly protected the beast from the cold. On the large pointed head of a mammoth, huge curved tusks flaunted, the length of which sometimes reached 4 meters. It is believed that they were used not only for reasons of self-defense, but also in order to get food. With their help, animals tore off the bark from trees, dug up food under a thick layer of ice, etc.

Another difference between a mammoth and an elephant is the size of the ears. In extinct animals, they were small (about 30 cm long) and tightly pressed to the head. Whereas the elephant's ears are protruding to the side. Their average length is 180 cm. It is also worth noting that the mammoth's trunk and tail were much shorter than those of an elephant. On the back of a prehistoric animal there was a hump in which fat reserves accumulated. High mammoth teeth with a large number of thin dentin-enamel plates were adapted for chewing coarse plant food. The feet of the animals had a very thick (practically horn-like) sole, up to 50 cm in diameter. The feet of their modern relatives are particularly sensitive. Thanks to the thick “pillows” located on them, they move almost silently.

A more complete answer to the question, what is the difference between a mammoth and an elephant, will help to find a comparative table.