Produced by the Population Genetics and Evolution class, Furman University

The Neogene: Mammoths and Mastodons
Mammoths are a diverse group of Proboscidae that fall under the genus Mammuthus are most closely related to the Asian elephants of today. Their size was comparable to the largest living elephants; that is, about seven tons in weight and four meters in height. Both genders had long, curving tusks, and at least woolly mammoths (M. primigenius) also had dark, spiraling fur all over their bodies, along with longer front legs that produced a pronounced downward slope in the back. They were grazing species that lived in the steppes of the northern hemisphere, and it is hypothesized that they died out due to climate changes that shifted grasslands south and reduced their productivity, making it impossible to support mammals as large as the mammoth. It is also possible that they were hunted to extinction by Pleistocene Neanderthals and Homo sapiens (Keddie 2009). The genus existed from an estimated four million years ago to roughly eleven thousand years ago, going extinct following the ice age. During that time, sevral species diverged across North America, accumulating successive layers of enamel on their teeth and specializing in browsing either shrubs, trees, or grasses (The Academy of Natural Sciences 2010). Mastodons are also part of Proboscidae, but fall instead under the genus Mammut. Less is known of this less diverse genus, the most prolific species of which is M. americanus. The main differentiating factor is the shape of the teeth, which in mastodons were blunt cones better for browsing, rather than flat as in mammoths (Illinois State Museum 2010).


Page by Will Towler
Woolly mammoth. Picture from: Wordpress

Keddie G. 2009. Human History: The Mammoth Story. Royal British Columbia Museum. accessed April 19, 2010.

Illinois State Museum. 2010. Mastodon. Illinois State Museum. Accessed April 19, 2010.

The Academy of Natural Sciences. 2010. Wooly Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius). Accessed April 19, 2010.