Mammoth
From Freepedia
- This article is about the extinct mammal. For the town with this name, see Mammoth, Arizona.
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Mammuthus columbi Columbian mammoth |
A mammoth (from Russian мамонт) is any of a number of an extinct genus of elephant, often with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair. They inhabited the northern regions of the world, in Europe, North Asia, and North America during the Ice Age.
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Size
It is a common misconception that mammoths were much larger than modern elephants, an error that has led to "mammoth" being used as an adjective meaning "very big". Certainly, the largest known species, the Imperial Mammoth of California, reached heights of at least 4 meters (13 feet) at the shoulder. However, most species of mammoth were only about as large as a modern Indian elephant, and fossils of a species of dwarf mammoth have been found on Wrangel Island off the east coast of Siberia.
Genetics
The mammoths diverged from the Asian elephants about 4.8 million years ago, after their common ancestor split from the African elephants about 7.3 million years ago, meaning that the mammoths were in fact more closely related to the modern Indian elephant than the African elephant is to either. Since there is a known case in which an Indian elephant and an African elephant have produced a live offspring, it has been theorised that if mammoths were still alive today, they would be able to interbreed with Indian elephants, and this has led to the idea that perhaps a mammoth-like beast could be recreated by taking genetic material from a frozen mammoth and combining it with that from a modern Indian elephant. However, not enough genetic material has been found in frozen mammoths for this to be attempted. Mammoths have been known to weigh 6-8 tons at a stretch, which is about the weight of a few trucks. [1].
Extinction
Most mammoths died out at the end of the last Ice Age. However, the dwarf mammoths of Wrangel Island (see above) became extinct only at about 2000 BC. Whether the mammoth died out for climatic reasons or due to overhunting by humans is debated.
There have been occasional claims that the mammoth is not actually extinct, and that isolated herds might survive in the vast and sparsely inhabited tundra of Siberia. However, no solid evidence exists for these claims.
Preserved remains
Preserved frozen remains of woolly mammoths have been found in the northern parts of Siberia. However, the popular notion that these bodies were 'flash frozen' and perfectly preserved is a myth propogated by pseudoscientists such as Immanuel Velikovsky. To date, thirty-nine bodies have been found, but only four of them are complete. In most cases the flesh shows signs of decay before its freezing and later desiccation.
Stories abound about frozen mammoth corpses that were still edible once defrosted, but the original sources (e.g. William R. Farrand's article in Science 133 [March 17, 1961]:729-735) indicate that the corpses were in fact terribly decayed, and the stench so unbearable that only the dogs accompanying the finders showed any interest in the flesh.
Similarly, proposals to clone freshly defrosted mammoths in order to revive the species have proved impossible, as the material recovered thus far is so badly decomposed that it has not provided sufficient genetic material.
In addition to frozen corpses, large amounts of mammoth ivory have been found in Siberia, and were an article of trade for many centuries.
Recent finds
In March 2005, the fairly complete remains of an unusually old mammoth, possibly the rare Mammuthus meridionalis, were discovered in the foothills of Moorpark, California at the site of a housing development.
See also
External links
- "The Mammoth Story" by Grant Keddie - an article on the Royal British Columbia Museum website
- Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota
- The Lenape Stone or The Indian and the Mammoth, by H. C. Mercer, 1885. (searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries; DjVu & layered PDF format)
Further reading
- Lister, Adrian; Bahn, Paul. Mammoths. London: MacMillan, 1994 (ISBN 0025729853).
- Martin, Paul S. Twilight of the mammoths: Ice Age extinctions and the rewilding of America. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005 (ISBN 0520231414).
