Authentic fossilized fragments of Woolly Mammoth bone, 20,000 years old, Pleistocene, Netherlands

Description

The woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) was a species of mammoth that lived from the Pleistocene epoch, approximately 400,000 years ago, until the Holocene epoch, approximately 10,500 years ago. It coexisted with early humans, who hunted them for food and fur, as well as for bones and tusks, which they used to craft tools and build shelters.

The woolly mammoth was roughly the same size as modern African elephants. Males of the species reached a shoulder height between 2.7 and 3.4 m and weighed up to 6 tons. In comparison, average-sized females reached up to 2.9 meters in height and weighed up to 4 tons.

Woolly mammoths were well adapted to the cold environment of the last ice age, their bodies covered with a dense coat featuring long guard hairs and a short underfur layer. Coat color varied from dark to light yellowish. To minimize frostbite and heat loss, their ears and tail were short. They possessed a pair of long tusks and four molars, which they replaced six times over their lifespan. Their diet consisted mostly of grasses and sedges. They could most likely reach an age of up to 60 years.