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Woolly Mammoths: 15 Fascinating Facts About the Giants of the Ice Age

If not for their dark coats and little ears, one may mistake them for elephants. One type of mammoth that existed in the Pleistocene was the woolly mammoth. They ate just plants.
They are extinct ancestors of the modern elephant, and despite having smaller ears, they were roughly the same size as an African elephant. In order to stay warm in the chilly Arctic, they were also covered in thick, brown fur. Their ears had fur as well.
Their approximately 15-foot-long tusks were utilized for digging through heavy snow and for warfare. We’ll talk about a lot of amazing facts about this behemoth and enlighten you on some that you probably didn’t know or only knew superficially. So shall we hit the ground running?

1. They were not all big species

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Compared to most contemporary mammals, all mammoths were large. However, the largest mammoths were more than eight tons in weight and stood 13 feet tall at the shoulder (likely Steppe mammoths). In contrast, the relatively little woolly mammoth was just nine feet tall and weighed about five tons.

2. Mammoths bones were used to build houses

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Woolly mammoths were hunted for their meat by ancient tribes in regions like the Ukraine of today.

After the meat was gone, they could use the enormous tusks and bones of the creatures for a multitude of things.

Neanderthals most likely used mammoth bones to construct some of the earliest bone-built homes in central Europe. The bones were artistically arranged and painted.

3. Woolly mammoths are known for their famous extra-long tusks

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The largest male woolly mammoths had tusks that could reach a length of 15 feet in addition to their lengthy, shaggy coats.

These enormous appendages were probably a sexually chosen trait, as males with longer, curvier, and more stunning tusks had a greater chance of mating with more females.

Although there is no actual fossil evidence to support this notion, the tusks might have been utilized to fend off tigers with saber teeth that were hungry.

4. The last group of woolly mammoths lived on two small islands

Higher coastlines, according to other research, are to blame for the woolly mammoth’s extinction.

Two tiny islands were home to the final population of woolly mammoths. The habitat of the mammoths shrunk as the sea level rose.

The available genetic diversity shrank steadily. In the end, the mammoths’ genetic integrity was too damaged for them to survive.

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5. A warming climate led to the woolly mammoth’s extinction

The most likely explanation for why woolly mammoths aren’t roaming the tundra now is that they were slaughtered in vast numbers by human hunters. This may have had a part in their demise, but it most certainly wasn’t the sole factor.

Another factor that probably certainly contributed to the extinction of the woolly mammoth was a warming climate. Habitats evolved as the climate warmed. Their lakes were shallower, the New Scientist claims, depriving the mammoths of water.

6. Mammoth tusks were used to make arrows and spears

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Mammoth-tusk ivory was used by prehistoric cultures to carve arrowheads, spearheads, and human and animal sculptures.

There was also a gigantic flute found in southwest Germany. Collecting mammoth tusks is permitted, and more are becoming accessible as the permafrost melts, particularly in Russia.

7. They were woolly enough to stay in cold places

The fluffy and blubbery nature of woolly mammoths allowed them to endure extreme cold without becoming uncomfortable.

They didn’t, however, stay solely on the cold tundra. Instead, they resided in steppe tundras, arid landscapes that range from northwest Canada all the way south to sunny Spain.

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8. Woolly Mammoths and elephants share some similar characteristics

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Elephants and woolly mammoths shared a great deal of characteristics, beginning with nearly identical DNA. They lived in similar groupings, ate similar meals, gave birth similarly, and were around the same size as one another as a result.

There were, of course, numerous differences. Both elephants and mammoths had tusks, but the latter were larger and more curved than the former.

Elephants do not need a layer of blubber under their skin to protect them from the cold, and mammoths also have smaller ears than elephants, perhaps to prevent heat loss.

9. Woolly mammoths had four inches of solid fat underneath their skin

Their shaggiest, thickest layer of fur wouldn’t be adequate against a severe Arctic gale. Because of this, woolly mammoths possessed four inches of solid fat under their skin as an additional layer of insulation to keep them warm in the harshest weather. Scientists have discovered that the hue of woolly mammoth fur ranges from blond to dark brown, similar to the color of human hair.

10. The very last woolly mammoths lived on Wrangel Island 

For thousands of years, early humans and woolly mammoths coexisted on earth. The last woolly mammoths lived on Wrangel Island off the coast of Russia, some 10,000 years ago, when the Pleistocene epoch came to a close.

However, some mammoths survived for thousands of years in remote island regions. 3,600 years ago, when King Tut ruled ancient Egypt, there were still surviving mammoths on the globe.

11. Neolithic Artists daubed Woolly mammoth images on the wall

Woolly mammoths were one of the most popular subjects for neolithic artists between 30,000 and 12,000 years ago, who painted pictures of these hairy creatures on the walls of several Western European caves.

These prehistoric drawings may have served as totems because early people might have thought that drawing woolly mammoths in ink made it easier to capture them in the wild.

Alternatively, they might have served as idols. Or it’s possible that creative cavemen were just bored on gloomy, rainy days.

12. Many Were Preserved in Permafrost

The fact that Canada, Alaska, and Siberia are still extremely cold even 10,000 years after the end of the last Ice Age helps to explain why so many mummified, virtually intact woolly mammoths have been found in solid blocks of ice.

It’s simple to recognize, isolate, and remove these enormous carcasses, but more difficult is keeping them from deteriorating once they reach room temperature.

13. They were not the biggest species existing

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The woolly mammoth was outperformed in bulk by other Mammuthus species, despite its intimidating size.

Males of the imperial mammoth (Mammuthus imperator) weighed over 10 tons, while some Songhua River mammoths (Mammuthus Sungari) in northern China may have reached 15 tons.

The five to seven-ton woolly mammoth was a little creature in comparison to these behemoths.

14. There existed other Woolly Prehistoric Mammal

Any large warm-blooded mammal that is introduced to an arctic ecosystem will very certainly grow shaggy fur over the course of many millions of years.

Although it is less well-known than the woolly mammoth, the woolly rhino, or Coelodonta, also roamed the Pleistocene Eurasia plains and was killed by early humans for food and fur. They probably found it easier to handle the one-ton beast.

The unicorn mythology may have been influenced by this single-horned animal. The North American mastodon had a significantly shorter fur coat than the woolly mammoth, with whom it shared some habitat.

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15. Possible to revive woolly mammoth species?

Due to their recent demise and strong resemblance to contemporary elephants, woolly mammoths may be able to be “de-extincted” by taking DNA from Mammuthus primigenius and creating a fetus inside a living pachyderm.

Recently, a group of scientists said that they had nearly finished decoding the genomes of two 40,000-year-old woolly mammoths.

Because DNA degrades significantly after tens of millions of years, it seems doubtful that the same approach would work for dinosaurs.