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Origins Of The Mammoth


The origin and the meaning of the word Mammoth reamain obscure. Some claim that is is derived from the Hebrew "behemoth," the name for a primeval creature mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible (Job, 40: 15 - 24). An animal of enormous size and strength, with curved horns or tusks, the behemoth was believed to consume huge amounts of grass and water, and had a mild and peaceful nature. An alternative view traces the name to various northern languages. The most plausible candidate is Estonian, in which "maa" means earth and "mutt" means mole, linking the name to the widespread belief that the animal burrowed beneath the ground. Whatever its origin, the word appears to have been introduced into Europe in 1618-20 by Richard Johnson, who reported on the "maimanto" tusks found by the Samoyeds of Siberia. By the 18th century, the term "mammoth," in its various forms, had spread into virtually every European language.......




European Mammoths



Mammuthus meridionalis was the direct descendant of tropical ancestors which had migrated north out of Africa a million or more years previously. They are the ancestral mammoth for which two separate lines evolved: M. trogontherii (the steppe mammoth) and M.columbi (the Columbian mammoth). M. primigenius (the woolly mammoth) descended from M.trogontherii.



Steppe mammoths roamed the river valleys in central Europe around 600,000 years ago. It was the largest of all mammoths, big males reaching a height of 14 ft (4.3 m) at the shoulder and weighing at least 10 tons. It was also an evolutionary link between the earlier M. meridionalis (the ancestral mammoth) from which it arose, and the later M. primigenius (the woolly mammoth), which was its descendant.



Mammoths were not the only species of elephant in the European Pleistocene. The straight-tusked elephant Palaeoloxodon antiquus was another large elephant, equaling the steppe mammoth in size. It generally lived in warmer, more forested areas than the steppe mammoth, but the two types sometimes coincided in areas where there was both grassland and trees.



Europe in the Early Pleistocene enjoyed a mild climate for much of the time, and the forests included many species of animals and plants whose closest relatives now live farther south. One example is the porcupine, which today is found in North Africa and the Middle East.



Unlike their ultimate descendants, which were primarily grass-eaters, ancestral mammoths were adapted to feeding mostly on trees and shrubs. They ate the fruit and bark as well as the leaves. Like modern elephants, these animals almost certainly had a direct impact on their environment through their habit of stripping the bark from trunks and even knocking whole trees over.




North American Mammoths



Mammoths first spread into North America about 1.5 million years ago. This was during the reign of Mammuthus meridionalis in Europe and Asia. The route to North America was eastward over the land bridge between Alaska and Siberia. Once in the New World, the ancestral mammoths soon spread to the south, for early remains have been found in southern Alberta, Florida and elsewhere






The Woolly Mammoth probably arose in Siberia, but soon came to occupy a vast range, stretching from Ireland to the east coast of North America. Living south of the ice sheets, it inhabited a landscape of rich, grassy vegetation largely devoid of trees. Sharing this habitat were other now extinct species, such as the Woolly Rhinoceros and Giant Deer.



The species Mammuthus columbi was exclusive to North America. Its range extended all the way to Mexico, farther south than any other mammoth species since the original migration from Africa millions of years before. In the northern part of its range, it probably encountered its woolly cousin migrating from its more northerly territory.




Dwarf Mammoths



During the Ice Age, sea levels were low enough to connect some of the smaller islands to the mainlands. Dwarf versions of mammoths evolved from being isolated from the mainland. Island inhabitants were unable to migrate to richer feeding grounds, so smaller animals that could survive with less food were at an advantage. A dwarf version of the Columbian Mammoth lived on the California Channel Islands between 30,000 and 12,000 years ago.


Dwarf mammoths evolved independently on at least three islands across the globe. In each case, these mammoths were descended from normal-sized animals from the adjacent mainland. The rugged coast of Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean off northeastern Siberia supported a population of Dwarf mammoths. Isolated from the mainland they survived up until approximately 2,000 years ago, longer than anywhere else on Earth.



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