What mammoths looked like description. Mammoths and mammoth fauna

The most intact remains of a mammoth known to science have been found in the permafrost of Yamal.

In particular, the trunk, eyes and part of the animal's hair were completely preserved.

The six-month-old female died about 10 thousand years ago.

Mammoths are extinct relatives of elephants. Thanks to their thick and long hair, they could live far to the north.

The most common trace of mammoths on earth is giant curved tusks. Looking at them, most people think that the mammoths themselves were much larger than elephants, but this is not so.

The small mammoth calf, found in Yamal, has a height at the withers of about 130 centimeters and weighs only 50 kg.

Ten thousand years ago, when the last one ended ice age, mammoths have already disappeared from the face of the planet.

The rare find was discovered in May by reindeer herder Yuri Khudiy. He literally tripped over her on the bank of the Yuribey River. Either the water eroded the soil, or the permafrost thawed, but the corpse began to partially protrude from the ground.

The missing tail

On last week A representative group of international experts gathered around the discovery in Salekhard.

“This mammoth has no external damage, except for the tail being bitten off by someone,” says Alexey Tikhonov, deputy director of the Institute of Zoology Russian Academy Sci. “Given the state of preservation, this is the most valuable find of its kind in the world.”

Larry Egenbrod, director of the Mammoth Research Center in Hot Springs, South Dakota, points out that there are only three small mammoth remains in the world. Finding them in any condition is already the greatest success, the scientist believes.

Some experts believe that if frozen sperm or other well-preserved cells containing mammoth DNA can be found, the species could be brought back to life through cloning.

An enthusiast of this idea is, in particular, Dr. Egenbrod.

“When we were studying the Yarkov mammoth (an adult found in 1977 in permafrost in Taimyr), geneticists told me: get high-quality DNA, and we will present you with a baby mammoth in 22 months,” he said in an interview with the BBC.

Profitable business

Yarkov's mammoth did not give DNA required quality, but many researchers are convinced that the discovery of suitable remains in the vastness of Siberia is only a matter of time.

Thawed sperm could be injected into the egg of an Asian elephant.

Even greater purity of the experiment can be achieved if the latter is first purified from its own DNA. In this case, not a hybrid of a mammoth and an elephant, but a real mammoth calf should be born.

Larry Egenbrod greatly regrets that many potentially valuable mammoth remains have been lost to science due to the fault of ignorant tusk and skin traders.

The center of illegal business is Yakutsk. Local residents scour the tundra in search of mammoths, and the finds have little chance of falling into the hands of specialists.

According to Larry Egenbrod, recent years the situation even worsened.

“In the past, collectors were only interested in mammoth tusks, but now they buy everything,” he says. “The Internet is full of offers to buy mammoth wool for $50 an inch.”

According to Russian laws, the remains of mammoths are the property of the state, but the authorities are still paying attention to illegal trade little attention, the scientist added.

The Yamal mammoth will be transported to the University of Tokyo by the end of this year, where a team of experts led by Professor Naoki Suzuki will conduct a detailed examination of it, including a computed tomography scan of its internal organs.

Mammoths first appeared on earth in the Pliocene era, approximately 4.8 million years ago.

Experts are still arguing about what led to their death: sudden climate changes, extermination by primitive hunters, or both.

According to available data, the last herd of mammoths lived on Wrangel Island only five thousand years ago - during the construction era Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge.

Mammoths - amazing mammals that have become extinct due to climate change. They are distant relatives of modern elephants.

When did mammoths go extinct?

The mammoth species is one of the most well studied in modern paleontology. First of all, this can be explained by the fact that they lived on Earth relatively recently and were even contemporaries of humans. Until now, researchers often come across the remains of these animals.

So when did mammoths go extinct? This happened about 10 thousand years ago, when the last global cooling in the world climate occurred. Because of this, a fierce species struggle for survival began. People, who by this time had mastered various hunting tools, became a threat to all mammoths. One carcass of such an animal could for a long time feed the tribe. Because of this, the range of these proboscideans was increasingly decreasing.

Fight with man

Paleontologists most often find the remains of giant animals precisely at the sites of ancient people. The bones were carefully processed using stone tools, so that later they can be used as tools in everyday life. Hunters had to come up with many tricks to catch such a giant as a mammoth. did not succumb to the blows of primitive copies. Of course, it was completely impossible for a person to overcome such a creature alone. Therefore, they hunted him in groups. On the paths where mammoths habitually roamed, camouflaged holes were dug into which the animal fell and became easy prey. Often spears or darts were aimed at the groin - one of the few weak points. Back in the 19th century, similar techniques were used by African aborigines when hunting local elephants.

Impact of climate change

In addition, there was another important reason Why did mammoths become extinct? These animals did not have enough food. Many of the species they fed on became extinct due to the cold snap (a total of 34 species disappeared during this period). Lack of food and the human threat have led to the fact that there is not a single mammoth left in the world. This phenomenon of mass extinction due to changes in living conditions in modern science was called the Great Holocene Extinction.

There are several minor signs that the theory that climate has become main reason disappearance of these mammals. When mammoths became extinct, not only other animals disappeared along with them, but also individual human communities. For example, this was the culture of Clovis. It was made up of aborigines living in Central and North America. That is, the coexistence of mammoths and people did not cause the extinction of proboscis.

Climate changes included not only sharp cold snaps (which changed the diet), but also warming, which already directly hit these giants. The retreat of ice and taiga to the north forced them to migrate further and further to extreme latitudes, where they eventually became extinct.

The Last Mammoths

Recent discoveries show that even after the disappearance of woolly elephants from the mainland, some isolated colonies existed on separate archipelagos. For example, bones were discovered on Wrangel Island that were about 4 thousand years old. Thus, scientists proved that isolated flocks still existed when Ancient Egypt Pyramids were already being built, and the Mycenaean civilization appeared in Greece. Of course, the inhabitants of the then Mediterranean did not know when mammoths became extinct.

The mammoth period lasted an extra thousand years. However, these animals were different from those that were previously distributed throughout Eurasia. Their size rarely reached 1.5 meters. This was due to the fact that the food chain had changed greatly. Mammoths had to reduce their diet, which affected the growth of individuals in childhood. These data became known after teeth found on Wrangel Island by Russian paleontologists in 1993 were studied and analyzed. The last “dwarf” community no longer knew any predators that could be a threat to them. Therefore, most of the fossils discovered correspond to older individuals.

When mammoths became extinct on the mainland, other species took their place. On Wrangel Island, the isolated community continued to exist and develop peacefully. However, why did mammoths become extinct on this small piece of land? Perhaps a man was in charge here. Unlike earlier times, when mammoths inhabited millions of square kilometers, killing just a few individuals on one island could upset the balance within the community.

Age of the Mammoth

Now that it has become clear how many years ago mammoths became extinct, we can talk about the environment in which they experienced their heyday. This period took place about 120 thousand years ago. At this time, mammoths lived not only in modern Siberia, but also in Europe, all the way to Spain. In Asia, this habitat line reached the shores of the Caspian Sea. Here, too, remains were found that remained after the mammoths became extinct. The era of their dominance in the surrounding fauna lasted for several tens of millennia.

The climate helped the mammoths. Over the past, Eurasia has experienced three severe cold snaps, when glaciers appeared far south of the Arctic Circle. greatly reduced the area of ​​impenetrable forests. And vice versa, the size of the steppes suitable for mammoths has increased significantly.

Neighbors of mammoths

There was always a rich fauna around these giants, with which they came into contact in one way or another. These were reindeer, hairy rhinoceroses, musk oxen, horses, yaks, cave bears, saigas. From small mammals It is worth noting lemmings, gophers, etc. In total, about 80 species of fauna can be listed.

When, due to gradual warming, dense forests replaced their native tundra-steppes, mammoths left these places. So their range shrank, and eventually they disappeared completely.

Mammoths in folklore

Peoples today keep many legends about woolly giants who once lived on their land. Siberia was a place where mammoth hunting used to flourish. The Komi, Khanty, Mansi and other indigenous inhabitants of the endless tundra have preserved legends about them in folklore. In addition, it was these people, even before the Europeans, who often found relic teeth and bones, which they used in everyday life or as expensive jewelry.

The Alaskan Eskimos carved images of these mammals on their weapons made from walrus bones. Laplanders living in northern Scandinavia believe that mammoths are furry giants that hide underground. Among the Chukchi Eastern Siberia legends about mammoths as carriers of an evil spirit have been preserved.

These animals came from Eurasia to America. In Indian folklore there are also legends about “ huge bison" Mammoth hunting was common on both one and the other continent. Due to global cooling, the level of the world's oceans has dropped significantly, which has made it possible for animals and people to travel from one part of the world to another.

Woolly mammoths were closely related genetically to today's Asian elephants. They were very similar to their modern cousins, except for one big difference. They were covered with thick wool, brown, such a thick coat helped to retain body heat on the cold Arctic plains. Even the ears of these animals were covered with thick fur.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), woolly mammoths grew about 13 feet (4 meters) tall and weighed up to 6 tons (5.44 metric tons). According to National Geographic, the hair on some parts of the body could be up to 3 feet (1 m) long. The main types of mammoths did not exceed modern elephants in size, but a subspecies called Mammuthus imperator, which lived in North America, reached a height of 5 meters and a weight of 12 tons, and dwarf species Mammuthus exilis and Mammuthus lamarmorae did not exceed 2 meters in height and weighed no more than 900 kg.

Their huge curved tusks may have been used for fighting. Mammoths also may have used them to dig out bushes, grasses, roots and other small plants from under the snow.

You will be interested to know: a very well-preserved corpse of a baby mammoth was found in Siberia feminine, (who was given the name Lyuba). After conducting a CT scan, scientists found that the baby died after getting stuck in a swamp more than 40,000 years ago.

Although woolly mammoths became extinct about 10,000 years ago, people know very little about them, due to the fact that these animals lived in places very difficult for humans to reach. Many corpses of woolly mammoths have been preserved in the permafrost of the Arctic. When the ice around the banks of ancient rivers and streams broke up, the corpses of long-dead mammoths were often discovered, looking almost the same as when they died.

For example, in 2007, a pair of mummified mammoth calves were found in Siberia. The bodies were so well preserved that a CT scan revealed the cause of death: they, like the baby mammoth Lyuba, had drowned in mud 40,000 years ago. The dirt was like thick dough, which blocked their tracheas, said study co-author Daniel Fisher, director of the Museum of Paleontology at the University of Michigan.

Botanist Mikhail Ivanovich Adams restored the first fossilized skeleton of the Siberian woolly mammoth in 1806. Since then, more than a dozen soft tissue samples have been found.

Habitat

Although woolly mammoths are known for living in the cold lands of the Arctic, they actually came there from much more warm places. A study conducted by a team from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, found that the ancestors of mammoths and Asian elephants appeared in Africa approximately 6.7 million to 7 million years ago. They are believed to have lived there for about 4 million years and then migrated to southern Europe.

About a million years passed and they spread even further into Asia as far as Siberia and the northern plains of Canada. It was at this time that a catastrophe occurred on the planet, causing a global “Ice Age,” said Kevin Campbell from research group University of Manitoba.

Scientists believe woolly mammoths were able to survive in a much colder climate thanks to sudden genetic mutation, which may have changed the way the blood transports oxygen throughout the body, allowing the body to retain more heat.

Numerous mammoth bones have been found in sites of ancient Stone Age man; Drawings and sculptures of mammoths made by prehistoric man were also discovered. In Siberia and Alaska, there are known cases of finding the corpses of mammoths, preserved due to their presence in the thickness of permafrost. The main types of mammoths were no larger in size than modern elephants (while the North American subspecies Mammuthus emperor reached a height of 5 meters and a mass of 12 tons, and dwarf species Mammuthus exilis And Mammuthus lamarmorae did not exceed 2 meters in height and weighed up to 900 kg), but had a more massive body, shorter legs, long hair and long curved tusks; the latter could serve the mammoth for obtaining food in winter time from under the snow. Mammoth molars with numerous thin dentin-enamel plates were well adapted for chewing coarse plant food.

Baby mammoth Dima extracted from permafrost

One of the latest, most massive and southernmost burials of mammoths is located in the Kargat district of the Novosibirsk region, in the upper reaches of the Bagan River in the area “Volchya Griva”. It is believed that there are at least 1,500 mammoth skeletons here. Some of the bones bear traces of human processing, which allows us to build various hypotheses about the residence of ancient people in Siberia.

Skeleton

In terms of its skeletal structure, the mammoth bears a significant resemblance to the living one. Indian elephant, which was slightly larger in size, reaching 5.5 m in length and 3.1 m in height. Huge mammoth tusks, up to 4 m in length, weighing up to 100 kg, were inserted into the upper jaw, protruded forward, bent upward and diverged to the sides.

The molars, of which mammoths had one in each half of the jaw, are somewhat wider than those of the elephant and differ a large number and the hardness of lamellar enamel boxes filled with dental substance.

Reconstructed appearance of a mammoth at the age of 5 years

History of the study

Map of finds of mammoth bones in Russia

American Indian legends about mammoths

1. Asian group that appeared more than 450 thousand years ago; 2. American group that appeared about 450 thousand years ago; 3. intercontinental group that migrated from North America about 300 thousand years ago

Notes

Synonyms:

See what "Mammoth" is in other dictionaries:

- (from Tat. mamma earth, because the Tungus and Yakuts think that a mammoth burrows underground like a mole). A four-legged fossil animal similar to, but larger than, an elephant. Dictionary foreign words, included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910.… … Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

Sources for reconstructing the mythopoetic image of M. are images of M. (engraved, the oldest of them in the La Madeleine cave, France; paintings, sculptures), known throughout northern zone Eurasia, China and some adjacent... ... Encyclopedia of Mythology

MAMMOTH, mamut husband. a fossil animal, partly similar to an elephant, but even larger. related to him. Mammoth bone, its fossil fangs, used in crafts. Dictionary Dalia. V.I. Dahl. 1863 1866 … Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

- (Mammuthus primigenius), an extinct species of elephant. Known from the 2nd half of the Pleistocene of Eurasia and Northern. America. It was somewhat larger in size than the modern one. elephants, had a more massive body, shorter legs and tail, long hair and... ... Biological encyclopedic dictionary

Strongman, big man, closet, mastodon, brute, mammoth Dictionary of Russian synonyms. mammoth noun, number of synonyms: 10 big guy (36) ... Dictionary of synonyms

A message about mammoths, grade 5, will briefly tell you about the giant animals that inhabited our planet during the glaciation period. Also, a report on mammoths can be used while preparing for a lesson or writing an essay on a given topic.

Brief message about mammoths

Mammoths(or they were also called northern woolly elephants) are an extinct group of animals that lived on our planet a very long time ago, during a period of total cooling, about 1.6 million years ago.

The word "mammoth" is of Tatar origin: the term "mamma" means "earth". It is likely that this origin is due to the fact that since time immemorial people have found surviving bones of giants in the ground. For example, the ancient inhabitants of the North thought that mammoths lived underground like moles.

Appearance of mammoths

The main species of these giant animals rarely exceeded modern elephants in size. Thus, the North American subspecies of mammoths reached a height of 5 m with a weight of 12 tons. And dwarf species of mammoths were no higher than 2 m and weighed up to 900 kg. Unlike elephants, mammoths had a massive body, short legs, long curved tusks and long hair. Animals used their tusks to obtain food for themselves in winter, picking it out from under the thick snow. The molars had numerous, thin dentin-enamel plates that helped chew rough plant food.

Where did mammoths live?

Mammoths lived in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. Paleontological excavations by scientists have shown that the animals led a nomadic lifestyle and constantly moved from one place to another, moving in the direction of glacial drift. In Europe, during harsh snowy winters, mammoths roamed the territory of the modern Crimean peninsula and the coast Mediterranean Sea. They inhabited cold, little snow-covered and dry steppes.

What did mammoths eat?

Since mammoths lived during the Ice Age, their diet consisted of scanty vegetation. When examining the found animals, remains of larch and pine twigs, wild caraway and sedge leaves, fir cones, flowers and moss were found in their stomachs.

Why did mammoths become extinct?

Paleontologists believe that humans caused the disappearance of mammoths. They were the first creatures to suffer such a sad fate. The giants' body was covered with thick, long and warm hair, which most likely attracted ancient man, who was looking for a way to warm himself in the cold and insulate his home. People also hunted them for their tasty, fatty and nutritious meat. Therefore, living mammoths were only seen primitive people, which caused the death of these animals.

• Modern naturalists were lucky enough to study these animals thanks to paleontological excavations, during which it was possible to find not only animal skeletons, but also entire frozen carcasses. Thus, in 1901, the so-called Berezovsky mammoth was discovered. His stuffed animal is kept in the Zoological Museum of St. Petersburg. Its body is covered with fur, 35 cm long. Underneath it, scientists discovered a soft and warm undercoat, subcutaneous fat, which was located on the shoulders. There were remains of undigested food in the mammoth's stomach.
• In 1977, at the mouth of the Siberian Dima River, a small mammoth was found, whose age is 44 thousand years.
• Mammoths had a hump on their back, like camels, where they stored fat reserves.
• Every day the mammoth needed 180 kg of food to maintain health. African elephant, for example, eats 300 kg of food.
• The giants' ears were smaller than those of modern elephants. This is due to the cold climate.
• The mammoth, from 30,000 to 12,000 years ago, was the most popular subject of Neolithic artists. He was depicted on rocks in caves Western Europe. For example, cave paintings with mammoths can be seen in France in the Roufignac cave.

We hope that the report on mammoths helped to learn about the first living creatures whose extinction was caused by man. A short story You can leave information about mammoths using the comment form below.