Mammuthus primigenius

The woolly mammoth is an extinct species of mammoth that lived from the Middle Pleistocene until its extinction in the Holocene epoch. It was one of the last in a line of mammoth species, beginning with the African Mammuthus subplanifrons in the early Pliocene. The woolly mammoth began to diverge from the steppe mammoth about 800,000 years ago in Siberia. Its closest extant relative is the Asian elephant. The Columbian mammoth lived alongside the woolly mammoth in North America, and DNA studies show that the two hybridised with each other. Mammoth remains were long known in Asia before they became known to Europeans. The origin of these remains was long debated and often explained as the remains of legendary creatures. The mammoth was identified as an extinct elephant species by Georges Cuvier in 1796.

Mammuthus primigenius

Lou.gruber · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
wooly mammothPBDB
Sits inside
MammuthusPBDB
Diet
grazerPBDB, for Mammuthus
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Elephantidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 2.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 7.246 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 77 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 77 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 74 of 77 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 1 of 77 occurrences7.5–7.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.2–7.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.0–6.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.7–6.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.5–6.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.2–5.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.9–5.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.7–5.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.4–5.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.2–4.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.9–4.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.6–4.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.4–4.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.9–3.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.6–3.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.4–3.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.1–2.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.6–2.3 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.1–1.8 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.8–1.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.5–1.3 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.3–1.0 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.0–775 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences775 ka–516 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences516 ka–258 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences258 ka–0 Mya — about 45 occurrences2.58 Mya11.7 ka7.7 Mya0 Mya

77 occurrences of Mammuthus primigenius on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

77 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

7 formations

Wiota Gravels — 47.20°N, 111.00°WOberer Travertin — 50.98°N, 11.31°EOberer Travertin I — 50.97°N, 11.35°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.93°N, 1.30°ETule — 34.51°N, 101.41°WErie clay — 42.53°N, 81.75°WGuxiangtun — 45.92°N, 127.40°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Mammuthus primigenius has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 70 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Mammuthus primigenius and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Mammuthus primigenius and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

354 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 77 sites for Mammuthus primigenius, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

57 references

Each of the 77 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 45 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Mammuthus primigenius

Credit
Lou.gruber
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Mammuthus primigenius · NHMUK:PAL:PV M 12328b

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itMammuthus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Blumenbach 1799)