Mammoth
20162
225713591
2008-07-15T01:13:45Z
Vsmith
84417
Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/Poundsie|Poundsie]] ([[User talk:Poundsie|talk]]) to last version by TXiKiBoT
{{two other uses|the genus Mammuthus|the species M. primigenius|Woolly Mammoth}}
{{Refimprove|date=August 2007}}
{{Taxobox
| name = Mammoth
| fossil_range = [[Early Pliocene]] to [[Holocene]]
| image = ColumbianMammoth_CollegeOfEasternUtah.jpg
| image_width = 250px
| image_caption = Mount of a [[Columbian Mammoth]]
| regnum = [[Animal]]ia
| phylum = [[Chordata]]
| classis = [[Mammal]]ia
| ordo = [[Proboscidea]]
| familia = [[Elephantidae]]
| genus = '''''Mammuthus'''''
| genus_authority = [[Joshua Brookes|Brookes]], [[1828]]
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
*''[[Mammuthus africanavus]]'' African mammoth
*''[[Mammuthus columbi]]'' Columbian mammoth
*''[[Mammuthus exilis]]'' Pygmy mammoth
*''[[Mammuthus imperator]]'' Imperial mammoth
*''[[Mammuthus jeffersonii]]'' Jeffersonian mammoth
*''[[Mammuthus trogontherii]]'' Steppe mammoth
*''[[Mammuthus meridionalis]]'' Southern mammoth
*''[[Mammuthus subplanifrons]]'' [[South Africa]]n mammoth
*''[[Mammuthus primigenius]]'' Woolly mammoth
*''[[Mammuthus lamarmorae]]'' Sardinian dwarf mammoth
*''[[Mammuthus sungari]]'' Songhua River mammoth
}}
A '''mammoth''' is any [[species]] of the [[extinct]] [[genus]] ''Mammuthus''. These [[proboscidea]]ns are members of the [[Elephantidae|elephant family]] and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved [[tusks]] and, in northern species, a covering of long [[hair]]. They lived from the [[Pliocene]] [[epoch (geology)|epoch]] from 4.8 million years ago to around 4,500 years ago.<ref>{{cite web
| last =
| first =
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title =Woolly Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius)
| work =
| publisher =[[Academy of Natural Sciences]]
| date =
| url =http://www.ansp.org/museum/jefferson/otherFossils/mammuthus.php#top
| format =
| doi =
| accessdate = 2007-07-20 }}</ref>
<ref name=livescience>{{cite web
| last =Schirber
| first =Michael
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title =Surviving Extinction: Where Woolly Mammoths Endured
| work =Live Science
| publisher =[[Imaginova|Imaginova Cororporation]]
| date =
| url =http://www.livescience.com/animals/041019_Mammoth_Island.html
| format =
| doi =
| accessdate = 2007-07-20 }}</ref> The word ''mammoth'' comes from the [[Russian language|Russian]] мамонт ''mamont'', probably in turn from the [[Mansi language|Vogul (Mansi) language]].<ref>''Oxford English Dictionary:Mammoth'' (2000).</ref>
==Extinction==
The [[woolly mammoth]] was the last species of the genus. Most populations of the woolly mammoth in North America and Eurasia died out at the end of the last [[Ice Age]]. Until recently, it was generally assumed that the last woolly mammoths vanished from Europe and Southern Siberia about 10,000 BC, but new findings show that some were still present here about 8,000 BC. Only slightly later, the woolly mammoths also disappeared from continental Northern Siberia.<ref>Anthony J. Stuart, Leopold D. Sulerzhitsky, Lyobov A. Orlova, Yaroslav V. Kuzmin and Adrian M. Lister: ''The latest woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius Blumenbach) in Europe and Asia: a review of the current evidence'' Quaternary Science Reviews Volume 21, Issues 14-15, August 2002, Pages 1559-1569[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VBC-45XTP62-1&_user=616145&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000032322&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=616145&md5=c4b377f44993d2f9c05b41b8e39b3e73 online]</ref> Woolly mammoths as well as Columbian mammoths disappeared from the North American continent at the end of the ice age. A small population survived on [[St. Paul Island, Alaska]], up until 6000 BC,<ref name=livescience/> and the small mammoths of [[Wrangel Island]] became extinct only around 2000 BC.<ref>{{cite journal
| last = Vartanyan
| first = S.L.
| authorlink =
| coauthors = Kh. A. Arslanov; T. V. Tertychnaya; S. B. Chernov
| title = Radiocarbon Dating Evidence for Mammoths on Wrangel Island, Arctic Ocean, until 2000 BC
| journal = Radiocarbon
| volume = 37
| issue = 1
| pages = pp 1–6
| publisher = Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona
| location =
| date = 1995
| url = http://packrat.aml.arizona.edu/Journal/v37n1/vartanyan.html
| doi =
| id =
| accessdate = 2008-01-10}}</ref>
A definitive explanation for their mass extinction is yet to be agreed upon. About 12,000 years ago, warmer, wetter weather was beginning to take hold. Rising sea levels swamped the coastal regions. Forests replaced open woodlands and grasslands across the continent. The Ice Age was ebbing. As their habitats disappeared, so did the bison and the mammoth.
Whether the general mammoth population died out for climatic reasons or due to overhunting by humans is controversial. Another theory suggests that mammoths may have fallen victim to an infectious disease. A combination of climate change and hunting by humans is the most likely explanation for their extinction.
New data derived from studies done on living elephants (see Levy 2006) suggests that though human hunting may not have been the primary cause for the mammoth's final extinction, human hunting was likely a strong contributing factor. ''[[Homo erectus]]'' is known to have consumed mammoth meat as early as 1.8 million years ago (Levy 2006: 295).
However, the [[American Institute of Biological Sciences]] also notes that bones of dead elephants, left on the ground and subsequently trampled by other elephants, tend to bear marks resembling butchery marks, which have previously been misinterpreted as such by [[Archaeology|archaeologists]].
The survival of the [[dwarf mammoths]] on [[Russia]]'s [[Wrangel Island]] was due to the fact that the island was very remote and uninhabited in the early [[Holocene]] period. The actual island was not discovered by modern civilization until the 1820s by American whalers. A similar [[Insular dwarfism|dwarfing]] occurred with the [[Pygmy Mammoth]] on the outer [[Channel Islands of California]], but at an earlier period. Those animals were very likely killed by early Paleo-Native Americans, and habitat loss caused by a rising sea level that split the [[Santa Rosae]] into the outer Channel Islands.
[[Thomas Jefferson]], well-versed in the natural sciences, nevertheless suggested to [[Lewis and Clark]] that they might find mammoth fossils during their explorations of the American West.
==Size==
[[Image:mammoth2.jpg|thumb|left|A full size reconstruction of a mammoth species, the [[woolly mammoth]], at Ipswich Museum, [[Ipswich]], [[Suffolk]]]]
[[Image:MammothFootImpressions25.jpg|thumb|right|Cross-section of mammoth footprints (a type of [[trace fossil]]) at The Mammoth Site, Hot Springs, South Dakota.]]
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 5 [[metre]]s (16 [[foot (unit of measure)|feet]]) at the shoulder. Mammoths would probably normally weigh in the region of 6 to 8 [[tonne]]s, but exceptionally large males may have exceeded 12 tonnes. A 3.3 m. (11 ft.) long mammoth tusk was discovered north of [[Lincoln, Illinois]] in 2005.<ref>[http://dnr.state.il.us/pubaffairs/2006/August/woolly.htm ''Recently discovered 11-foot long Woolly Mammoth tusk on display at the Illinois State Museum]'' Illinois Department of Natural Resources press release, August 14, 2006 </ref> However, most species of mammoth were only about as large as a modern [[Asian Elephant]]. Fossils of species of [[Dwarf elephant|dwarf mammoth]] have been found on the Californian [[Santa Rosae|Channel Island]]s (''[[Mammuthus exilis]]'') and the Mediterranean island of [[Sardinia]] (''Mammuthus lamarmorae''). There was also a race of dwarf [[woolly mammoth]]s on [[Wrangel Island]], north of Siberia, within the Arctic Circle.
Based on studies of their close relatives the modern elephants, mammoths probably had a [[gestation]] period of 22 months, resulting in a single calf being born. Their social structure was probably the same as that of [[African elephant|African]] and [[Asian elephant]]s, with females living in herds headed by a matriarch, whilst bulls lived solitary lives or formed loose groups after sexual maturity.{{Fact|date=April 2007}}
==Well-preserved specimens==
In May of 2007, the carcass of a six-month-old [[Lyuba|female woolly mammoth calf]] was discovered encased in a layer of [[permafrost]] near the [[Yuribei River]] in Russia where it had been buried for 37,000 years. Alexei Tikhonov, the Russian Academy of Science's Zoological Institute's deputy director, has dismissed the prospect of cloning the animal, as the whole cells required for cloning would have burst under the freezing conditions. [[DNA]] is expected to be well-preserved enough to be useful for research on mammoth [[phylogeny]] and perhaps [[physiology]] however.<ref name='BBC-Mammoth-2007'>{{cite news | first=Paul | last=Rincon | coauthors= | title=Baby mammoth discovery unveiled | date=2007-07-10 | publisher=The BBC | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6284214.stm | work =news.bbc.co.uk | pages = | accessdate = 2007-07-13 | language = }}</ref><ref name='Reuters-Mammoth-2007'>{{cite news | first=Dmitry | last=Solovyov | coauthors= | title=Baby mammoth find promises breakthrough | date=2007-07-11 | publisher=[[Reuters]] | url =http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSL1178205120070711 | work =reuters.com | pages = | accessdate = 2007-07-13 | language = }}</ref>
==See also==
*[[Elephant]]
*[[Mastodon]]
*[[Pleistocene Park]]
*[[La Brea Tar Pits]] - cluster of tar pits located in California, USA
==References==<!-- Biol. Lett.2:451 doi:10.1098/rsbl.2006.0467 but see also BiolLett3:55,57,60. First and last paers have digital appendices. -->
*{{aut|Capelli, Cristian; MacPhee, Ross D.E.; Roca, Alfred L.; Brisighelli, Francesca; Georgiadis, Nicholase; O'Brien, Stephen J.; Greenwood, Alex D.}} (2006): A nuclear DNA phylogeny of the woolly mammoth (''Mammuthus primigenius''). ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' '''40''' (2) 620–627. <small>{{doi|10.1016/j.ympev.2006.03.015}}</small> (HTML abstract). Supplemental data available to subscribers.
*{{aut|Levy, Sharon}} (2006): Clashing with Titans. ''[[BioScience]]'' '''56'''(4): 292-298. <small>[[Digital Object Identifier|DOI]]:10.1641/0006-3568(2006)56[292:CWT]2.0.CO;2</small> [http://www.bioone.org/perlserv/?request=res-loc&uri=urn%3Aap%3Apdf%3Adoi%3A10.1641%2F0006-3568%282006%2956%5B292%3ACWT%5D2.0.CO%3B2 PDF fulltext]
*{{aut|Lister, Adrian & Bahn, Paul}} (1994): ''Mammoths''. MacMillan, London. <small>ISBN 0-02-572985-3</small>
*{{aut|Martin, Paul S.}} (2005): ''Twilight of the mammoths: Ice Age extinctions and the rewilding of America''. University of California Press, Berkeley. <small>ISBN 0-520-23141-4</small>
*{{aut|Mercer, H.C.}} (1885): ''The Lenape Stone or The Indian and the Mammoth''. [http://fax.libs.uga.edu/E98xP4xM5/ DjVu fulltext] [http://fax.libs.uga.edu/E98xP4xM5/1f/lenape_stone.pdf PDF fulltext]
*{{aut|Stone, Richard}} (2001): ''Mammoth: The resurrection of an Ice Age giant''. Fourth Estate, London. <small>ISBN 1-84115-518-7</small>
===Footnotes===
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{Commonscat|Mammuthus}}
{{portalpar|Paleontology}}
* "[http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Content_Files/Files/mammoth-1.pdf The Mammoth Story]" by Grant Keddie - an article on the [[Royal British Columbia Museum]] website
* [http://www.mammothsite.com Mammoth Site] of [[Hot Springs, South Dakota]]
* "[http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/lastmammoth.html The Great Mammoth Hoax]"
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5008664.stm BBC: Mammoth skeleton found in Siberia]
* [http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/903 "Back from the dead":] A feature on efforts to clone mammoths back from extinction, ''Cosmos Magazine'', 6 December 2006.
* [http://www.worldhistoryblog.com/2006/05/humans-not-responsible-for-mammoth.html Humans not responsible for mammoth extinction]
* [http://www.baylor.edu/pr/news.php?action=story&story=44819 The Waco Mammoth Site]
*[http://www.cwu.edu/~masters/mammoth.html Wenas Creek Mammoth Site] The Wenas Creek Mammoth Project is a Central Washington University (CWU) scientific investigation of mammoth bones found on private land in the Wenas Creek Valley near Selah, Washington
* [http://www.westerncentermuseum.org/exhibit.html Western Center for Archaeology and Paleontology] Hemet, California
[[Category:Pleistocene extinctions]]
[[Category:Pleistocene mammals]]
[[Category:Prehistoric elephants]]
[[Category:Prehistoric mammals of Europe]]
[[Category:Extinct animals of the United States]]
{{Link FA|hu}}
[[ar:ماموث]]
[[zh-min-nan:Mammoth]]
[[bs:Mamut]]
[[br:Mammout]]
[[bg:Мамут]]
[[ca:Mamut]]
[[cs:Mamut]]
[[cy:Mamoth]]
[[da:Mammut]]
[[de:Mammuts]]
[[et:Mammut]]
[[el:Μαμούθ]]
[[es:Mammuthus]]
[[eo:Mamuto]]
[[eu:Mamut (animalia)]]
[[fr:Mammouth]]
[[gd:Mamot]]
[[gl:Mamut]]
[[zh-classical:長毛象]]
[[ko:매머드]]
[[hr:Mamuti]]
[[io:Mamuto]]
[[id:Mamut]]
[[ia:Mammut]]
[[is:Loðfíll]]
[[it:Mammuthus primigenius]]
[[he:ממותה]]
[[jv:Mamut]]
[[kn:ಮ್ಯಾಮತ್]]
[[la:Mammuthus]]
[[lt:Mamutas]]
[[hu:Mamut]]
[[ml:മാമോത്ത്]]
[[nah:Elepantzoyotl]]
[[nl:Mammoeten]]
[[ja:マンモス]]
[[no:Mammuter]]
[[nn:Mammut]]
[[oc:Mamot]]
[[pl:Mamut]]
[[pt:Mamute]]
[[ro:Mamut]]
[[qu:Mamut]]
[[ru:Мамонты]]
[[stq:Mammute]]
[[simple:Mammoth]]
[[sk:Mamut]]
[[sr:Мамут]]
[[sh:Mamut]]
[[fi:Mammutit]]
[[sv:Mammutar]]
[[th:ช้างแมมมอธ]]
[[vi:Voi ma mút]]
[[tr:Mamut]]
[[uk:Мамут]]
[[zh-yue:長毛象]]
[[zh:猛犸象]]