14 DAY TRIAL // Mammoths are fossil elephants, closely related to the Asian elephants, from whose branch they split off 5.8 to 7.7 million years ago. They appeared in Africa where two species of mammoth lived 4.8 MA ago.
A huge mammoth species, the steppe mammoth (Mammuthus trogontherii) roamed the plains of northern Eurasia during the Ice Age. This species lived 750.000 - 500.000 years ago and was 4.7 m (15.7 ft) tall, much taller than modern African elephants. It replaced an African originated species, M meridionalis. 1.8 MA ago, M. meridionalis crossed Behringia into North America, where it formed local species. During the Ice Age till 17,000 years ago, western North America was inhabited by the Imperial Mammoth (M imperator), the largest mammoth species with a height of 4.9 m (16 ft) and over 10 tones in weight. It lived from Canada to New Mexico about 4.6 million - 17,000 years ago.
The Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) inhabited North America 100,000 to 9,000 years ago. This species had the largest tusks: 5 m (16 f) long. 2 m tusks in modern African elephants are rarely found. A third species of mammoth in North America was M. jeffersonii.
All these mammoth species lived in warm or temperate climates, but the most famous mammoth species is the woolly mammoth (M. primigenius). This species was a tundra animal, adapted to the cold of the Ice Age, being one of the frequent species hunted by the first humans. It evolved from M. trogontherii and 500,000 years ago entered North America. Their range expanded from Spain to North America and were one of the most abundant animal species of the Ice Age.
Adaptations to the cold are its long hair, up to 50 cm (20in) long, which gives the species' name, tiny ears (if modern African elephants have 1.8 m (6 ft) ears, the largest mammoth ear was 1 ft (30 cm), a woolly skin flap tapped the anus, decreasing heat loss. Under the skin, they stored an 8 cm (3 in) thick fatty layer, like sea mammals (whales and seals) do for limiting heat loss.
The woolly mammoths disappeared from the mainland 12,000 years ago, but a small population survived on St. Paul Island, Alaska, up until 6000 BC, while another on Wrangel Island (northern Siberia) dwarfed to a third in size surviving until 1700 BC. This dwarfism was provoked by the limited food amount and small space of the island. Inbreeding in the small population could have rendered individuals prone to infections.
Scientists also discovered dwarf species of mammoth in Sardinia and islands off California.
The woolly mammoth was the size of a modern elephant: 3 m (10 ft) tall, 4-6 tonnes, with 4 m (13 ft) long tusks weighing 280 kg (660 pounds). Because woolly mammoths lived in an environment with frozen soil (permafrost), people have recovered frozen bodies of mammoth adults and calves, with tissue and DNA. Their tusks are still collected from Siberia, replacing the ivory of the endangered African and Asian elephants.
In 1977, the Russian scientist Piotr Lazarev discovered in Siberia a mammoth calf preserved in snow. The heart had 1.5 g of frozen blood. Microscopic analysis revealed that the white cells still emitted antibodies!
Inside the skeleton of a mammoth discovered near the German locality of Lehringen, scientists discovered the oldest spear ever, made of yew wood 85,000 years ago.
For scientists, the sudden disappearance of all mammoth species at the end of the Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago, remains a mystery. Was it because of the climate change? Did human hunting play a role in all this?
