The Woolly Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) is a genus of mammoth that originated during the Middle Pleistocene epoch in what is now North America, Europe, and Asia. Essentially a prehistoric elephant, one of the many species, covered in thick fur, the Woolly Mammoth is also among the most famous prehistoric creatures of all time.
Thought to have been extinct for 1,000 years, there are still large herds that remain alive on Primeval Island.
Facts[]
Era & Discovery[]
Perhaps the largest terrestrial mammalian animal of its time, the Woolly Mammoth lived in North America, Europe, and Siberia during the Late Pleistocene, around 400,000 years ago. Woolly Mammoths evolved from hairless ancestors in Africa and have become living fortresses against the cold. They lived alongside other animals of the time, like Smilodon, Arctotherium, Megatherium, Steppe Bison, Megaloceros, Hagerman Horse, Cave Lion, Cave Hyena, Elasmotherium, Woolly Rhinoceros, Aurochs, and the Dire Wolf.
When the Ice Age retreated, mammoth populations decreased dramatically. However, the Woolly mammoth was occasionally hunted by Palaeolithic hunters, who also painted it on the walls of caves, engraved its likeness in bone and ivory and made statuettes of it.
Era & Region[]
First discovered by European scientists in 1779, Woolly Mammoth fossils have been discovered in Siberia. Until recently, it was generally assumed that the last Woolly Mammoths vanished from Europe and Southern Siberia during the Late Pleistocene, about 10,000 years ago. However, new findings show that some were still present there about 1,700 years ago.
Physical Description[]
The Woolly Mammoth was a giant hairy elephant-like creature, one of the largest land mammals the world had ever seen. They grew to stand about 9 – 15 feet (2.7 – 4.5 m) tall and weighed up to 6 – 12 tons (13,000 – 26,000 lbs.), making them the largest land animals of their ecosystem.
Woolly mammoths had a number of adaptations used to cope with the coldest weather conditions, most famously the thick layer of shaggy fur on its body, up to 1 meter in length with a fine underwool as well as a thick layer of fat, for which the Woolly mammoth is named. Woolly mammoths, however, would have had trouble living in a sub-tropical climate but having a haircut would help it cope with the temperatures. Additionally, the coats molted in summer to cool off, otherwise, the Woolly mammoth would overheat and die. They also had far smaller ears than modern elephants; the largest Woolly mammoth ear found so far was only 30 cm (12 in) long, compared to 180 cm (71 in) for an African elephant. Other characteristic features included a high, peaked head that appears knob-like in many cave paintings and a high shoulder hump resulting from long spines on the neck vertebrae that probably carried fat deposits.
Another feature, at times found in cave paintings, was confirmed by the discovery of the mummified remains of a baby mammoth. Unlike the trunk lobes of living elephants, Dima's upper lip at the tip of the trunk had a broad lobe feature, while the lower lip had a broad, squarish flap. Additionally, the trunk of a Woolly Mammoth was strong enough to pull calves out of thick layers of mud, with the help of their tusks.
Woolly Mammoths needed to eat a lot of vegetation to sustain themselves. Sometimes, they had to eat as much as 180–200 kg of grass, twice a grown man's weight, in food sixteen hours a day every single day. They would feed on plains and grasslands, eating grasses, mosses, etc. Woolly mammoths could also make a grumbling sound with their stomachs, and they used that to communicate with their herd mates, even if they were dead, they tried. If their heads were held low and their ears close to their heads, it could also mean that they were sick. If two adult Woolly mammoths that looked similar to each other, they were probably females from the same herd. The females were more social than the males were and had much smaller tusks than the males. Another important difference between mammoths and most other elephants was the blubber, reaching 10 cm (4 inches) thick.
Behavior & Traits[]
Woolly mammoths were highly social animals and as such, like all kinds of herbivorous animals, they lived and traveled in huge herds of dozens, hundreds, even thousands of individuals, ranging from calves to adult females. The herd was made up of mothers, calves, sisters, aunts, and grandmothers, making the whole herd almost entirely of females, with some male calves and adolescences. But once males reached a certain age, they left the herd to join a male-only herd, led by an old male. When they got old or disobediant enough, they would go on their own. Therefore, males only lived in bachelor herds and in solitude, only returning to a female-led herd to reproduce. Just like modern-day elephants, Woolly mammoths had a strong bond between members of the herd.
If an individual female was separated from the rest of its herd, the female mammoth would not only suffer death slowly from a loner's life but also probably hunted by predators, with females being weaker and more vulnerable than males. Like other Mammoths (and similar to modern-day elephants), female Woolly mammoths' herds were led by a Matriarch. The Matriarch would be 50 to 60 years of age and it was her experience that ensured the survival of the whole herd anytime the going got tough, and she maintained cohesiveness in the herd. They stopped when she stopped, slept when she slept, and fed and drank when she did. Whenever there was trouble, such as a calf being stuck in the mud, the Matriarch came in to help. If a member of the herd died, then another member would stay behind. There was a leader for bachelor herds, too. This would be an old male, around the age of a Matriarch. However, he would not be as close with his herd, and always made sure to maintain his dominace. Insects were a source of irritation for these animals and the mud Woolly mammoths spray on their head prevented the insects from biting or Woolly mammoths did it just for the fun of it.
Trivia[]
- The sound effects for the Woolly Mammoth are that of typical sounds for an elephant as well as other similar sound effects.
Gallery[]
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