Mammals · Proboscidea · Elephantidae

Wooly Mammoth

Mammuthus primigenius

Extinct

No living individual remains anywhere in the world. See full glossary

The woolly mammoth, woolly elephant or tundra mammoth is an extinct proboscidean of the elephant family that probably became extinct because of climate change and the loss of its habitat at the end of the Pleistocene. With its covering of long, shaggy hair, it was a species adapted to the extreme climate of the ice age. Mammuthus primigenius was similar in size to the average elephant of today. Many bones and curved tusks, as well as whole frozen bodies, of animals of this mammoth species have been found in Siberia, on the Arctic islands and in North America. The first complete specimen of this animal was discovered in 1806, near the mouth of the Lena river, in Siberia, Russia.

Weight

4 t – 6 t

Size

4 m – 5 m

Lifespan

60 years

Diet

Herbivore

Feeds mainly on plants.

Activity

Diurnal

Active mainly during the day.

Sighting difficulty

Impossible (extinct)

TundraGrasslandPolarHerbivore Diurnal Tundra Grassland Polar Mammal

3countries3same family

Fun facts

GeneralIts last populations survived on Wrangel Island until some 4,000 years ago.
The last population survived on Wrangel Island, in the Russian Arctic, until some 4,000 years ago: it was still alive when the pyramids of Giza had already been built.
Its tusks, which in males could be more than four metres long, grew in a spiral and often crossed in front of the trunk.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (mammal)
Habitat & environment: The mammoth steppe: cold, dry grassland of Eurasia and North America during the Pleistocene
Gestation / incubation: 22 months
Litter / clutch size: 1

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammuthus_primigenius