Columbian mammoth
Columbian mammoth, Mammuthus columbi
Up to 13 ft. tall, up to 10 tons, lived 100,000 - 13,000 years
ago
Range: North America (Alaska to central Mexico)
The Columbian mammoth is one of three species of mammoths that
roamed continental North America during the Ice Age. The other two
species were the woolly mammoth and Jefferson's mammoth.
These two species preferred tundra environments whereas the
Columbian mammoth was more a savanna and grasslands inhabitant.
Mammuthus excilis was a pygmy mammoth that lived on the Channel
Islands off the coast of California. The largest Columbian mammoths
ranged from 12-13 feet (4 meters) high at the shoulders, and
weighed as much as eight to ten tons (nine metric tons). The
tusks of the Columbian mammoth were up to 14 feet (4.25 meters)
long, and its washboard-like teeth were well-suited for chewing
grass.
American mastodon, Mammut americanum
Up to 10 ft. tall, up to 8 tons, lived 5 million years ago -
13,000 years ago
Range: North America (Alaska to central Mexico)
Mastodons were distant relatives of mammoths and elephants. In
North America, they were generally smaller but more massive than
mammoths, standing about 8-10 feet tall at the shoulders and
weighed 6-8 tons. Unlike the washboard-like teeth of mammoths,
mastodons had blunt, cone-shaped teeth that were probably used to
chew leaves, fruits and stems in wooded areas. African
elephant (for comparison), Loxodonta africanaUp to 11 ft. tall, up
to 8 tons, lived 5 million years ago to present
Mammoths (Mammuthus) and elephants (Loxodonta) both evolved and
lived together in Africa for four million years. Mammoths
dispersed to North America around two million years ago.
Mammoths became a cold adapted form of elephant.
Mammoth Teeth vs. Mastodon Teeth
Mammoths and mastodons are superficially similar to modern
elephants. One obvious difference between them is the shape
of their teeth: mastodons had conical projections on the crowns of
their molars, which were adapted for browsing, while mammoths were
grazers, and their flat molars had shallow ridges, adapted for
grinding coarse grasses. Mammoth teeth are somewhat similar to the
teeth of modern elephants.
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