Adams Mammoth - Description

Description

The appearance of the woolly mammoth is probably the best known of any prehistoric animal, due to the many specimens with preserved soft tissue, and the fact that contemporary humans depicted them in their art. Fully grown males reached shoulder heights between 2.7 m (9 ft) and 3.4 m (11 ft), and weighed up to six tonnes. This is not far from the size of extant male African elephants, which commonly reach 3-3.4 m, and is less than the size of the earlier mammoth species M. meridionalis and M. trogontherii, and the contemporary M. columbi, but the reason for the smaller size is unknown. Female woolly mammoths averaged about 2.6-2.9 m in height, and they were more lightly built than males. A newborn calf would have weighed about 90 kg. These sizes are deduced from comparison with living elephants of similar size. Though the individuals on Wrangel Island were smaller than those of the mainland, their size varied, and they were not small enough to be considered "dwarves".

Woolly mammoths had a number of adaptations to the cold, most notably the layer of fur, which covered all parts of the body. Other adaptations to cold weather include the size of the ears, which were far smaller than those of modern elephants; they were about 38 cm (15 in) long and 18-28 cm across, and the ear of the 6-12 month old frozen calf "Dima" was under 13 cm long. The small ears prevented heat loss and frost bite, and the tail was also short for this reason, only 36 cm long in the "Beresovka mamoth". The tail contained 21 vertebrae, whereas the tails of modern elephants contain 28-33. Their skin was no thicker than that of present-day elephants, between 1.25 and 2.5 cm. They had a layer of fat up to 10 cm (3.9 in) thick under the skin, which helped to insulate them and keep them warm. Woolly mammoths had a broad flap of skin under their tail which covered the anus, but it is unknown if this was for protection against cold, as the feature is also seen in modern elephants.

Other characteristic features depicted in cave paintings include a large, high, single domed head, and a sloping back with a high shoulder hump resulting from long spinous processes on the neck vertebrae. These features were not present in juveniles, which had concave backs like Asian elephants, but were acquired later in life. Another feature shown in cave paintings was confirmed by the discovery of a frozen specimen in 1924, an adult nicknamed the "Middle Kolyma mammoth", which was preserved with a complete trunk tip. Unlike the trunk lobes of living elephants, the upper "finger" at the tip of the trunk had a long pointed lobe and was 10 cm long, while the lower "thumb" was 5 cm and was broader. The trunk of "Dima" was 76 cm, whereas the trunk of the adult "Liakhov mammoth" was 2 meters long. The well preserved foot of the "Yukagir mammoth" shows that the sole of the feet contained many cracks that would have helped in getting a grip on surfaces during locomotion. Like modern elephants, woolly mammoths walked on their toes and had large, fleshy pads behind the toes. Few frozen specimens have preserved genitals, so the gender is usually determined through examination of the skeleton. Males were generally larger and had more robust skeletons and tusks. The best indication of sex is the size of the pelvic girdle, as the hole which functions as a birth canal in females is always wider in these than in males.