THE MAMMUTHUS

Mammuthus is an extinct genus of mammals proboscídeos Elephantidae family commonly known as mammoths. Existed for about 4.8 million years ago to just 3700 years ago, in the Pliocene epochs (late Neogene), Pleistocene and Holocene (Quaternary) .1 2 We have described numerous species, the woolly mammoth being the best known of all . The mammoth fossils have been found in North America, Eurasia and Africa.

Proboscídeos Mammoths were large, of the same size and in some cases higher than modern elephants. The largest known species M. Sungari (Songhua River mammoth), with a height at the withers of 5.3 meters and a length of 9.1 meters, and the imperial mammoth, had a minimum height of 5 m at cross. Among the smaller species are M. exilis (pygmy mammoth), M. lamarmorae (Sardinia mammoth "), or dwarf race M. primigenius (woolly mammoth), having a height in the cross of 1-2 meters. mammoths probably had a weight of 6 to 8 tons, but some males exceptionally large may have exceeded 12 tons.

The social structure of the mammoths was probably the same as that of Asian elephants with herds composed of females led by a matriarch, and males living alone or in small groups after reaching sexual maturity. Once leaving the herd which had grown, the males were engaged in searching females from other groups for mating as aparearse.10 Both births took place during a short time of the year due to the short summer season of the mammoth steppe , allowing the pups were born at the time of the year there was more food abundance.