Post by RSN on Jan 8, 2006 21:30:21 GMT
Columbian Mammoth
Mammuthus columbi (Merriam, 1910)
The extinct Columbian mammoth was one of the largest elephants to have walked the Earth. It had impressive, spiralled tusks which measured up to 4.9m (16ft) long, making them world record holders amongst the elephant family.
Pronunciation of scientific name
MAM-oth
Statistics
4m (13ft) tall at the shoulder and up to 10 tonnes in weight.
Physical Description
One of the largest elephants ever to have lived, the Columbian mammoth was like a large African elephant but with a more sloping back and long, spiralled tusks. One tusk from a mammoth found in Texas had a tusk measuring 4.9m (16ft), the longest of any of the elephant family. There is some debate as to how much hair the Columbian mammoths had and some scientists suggest that they had a full fur coat like the woolly mammoth. It is more likely that hair grew more extensively on some parts of the body, such as the top of the head, but that they were basically elephant-like with exposed naked skin, greyish in colour.
Distribution
Columbian mammoths ranged through the southern half of North America and south into Mexico.
Habitat
Columbian mammoths were widespread throughout grasslands and woodlands.
Diet
Mammoths were herbivores eating mainly grasses and other low growing plants. They also browsed on leaves, twigs and fruit.
Behaviour
Social life revolved around the female herds, with groups of related individuals staying together throughout their lives. Such herds would have numbered between 2-20 individuals, were led by a dominant matriarch and comprised a number of other adult females and their offspring. Female young would stay with the herd while males would leave when they reached 12-15 years of age.
Reproduction
Gestation was 22 months, after which a single young was produced and suckled until 2-3 years old. Adult males lived apart from the herds, joining them only during the breeding season to mate with receptive females. Adult males would have fought for access to the female herds at this time
Conservation status
Columbian mammoths became extinct approximately 12,500 years ago.
Notes
Certain plants in North America produce huge fruits which no modern American animals eat. Such plants do not therefore have a natural method of seed dispersal. One example is a tree called the Osage orange, which produces grapefruit-sized fruit. It is believed that large extinct animals such as the mammoths would have been the natural dispersal agents for this species. The fruit would have been eaten but the seeds would have passed harmlessly through the animal’s gut to be ejected with the dung, allowing them to germinate and colonise new areas.
History
The Columbian mammoth was a uniquely American species which evolved from an ancestor that colonised the New World about 1.5 million years ago. In Eurasia, this same ancestor evolved separately into the woolly mammoth.
Closest relative
Modern elephants.
---
The Columbian Mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) is an extinct species of elephant that inhabited the Great Plain of North America between 100,000 and 14,000 years ago. The species was one of the largest mammoths to have lived, measuring 4 metres at the shoulder and weighing 10,000kg (9.8 tons). It was a herbivore, with a diet consisting of varied plant life ranging from grasses to conifers. It is also theorised that the Columbian Mammoth ate the giant fruits of North America such as the Osage-orange, Kentucky coffee and Honey locust as there was no other large herbivore in North America then that could ingest these fruits.
The animal had a gestation period of 22 months, resulting in a single calf being born. The social structure of the animal was probably the same as that of modern day African and Asian elephants, with females living in herds headed by a matriach, whilst bulls were forced to live in solitary or loose groups after sexual maturity.
The Columbian Mammoth became extinct at the same time as the rest of the American Megafauna about 14,000 years ago.
Portuguese name: Mamute-columbino or Mamute-americano
Sources:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammuthus_columbi
www.avph.cjb.net/
www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/3000.shtml
Mammuthus columbi (Merriam, 1910)
The extinct Columbian mammoth was one of the largest elephants to have walked the Earth. It had impressive, spiralled tusks which measured up to 4.9m (16ft) long, making them world record holders amongst the elephant family.
Pronunciation of scientific name
MAM-oth
Statistics
4m (13ft) tall at the shoulder and up to 10 tonnes in weight.
Physical Description
One of the largest elephants ever to have lived, the Columbian mammoth was like a large African elephant but with a more sloping back and long, spiralled tusks. One tusk from a mammoth found in Texas had a tusk measuring 4.9m (16ft), the longest of any of the elephant family. There is some debate as to how much hair the Columbian mammoths had and some scientists suggest that they had a full fur coat like the woolly mammoth. It is more likely that hair grew more extensively on some parts of the body, such as the top of the head, but that they were basically elephant-like with exposed naked skin, greyish in colour.
Distribution
Columbian mammoths ranged through the southern half of North America and south into Mexico.
Habitat
Columbian mammoths were widespread throughout grasslands and woodlands.
Diet
Mammoths were herbivores eating mainly grasses and other low growing plants. They also browsed on leaves, twigs and fruit.
Behaviour
Social life revolved around the female herds, with groups of related individuals staying together throughout their lives. Such herds would have numbered between 2-20 individuals, were led by a dominant matriarch and comprised a number of other adult females and their offspring. Female young would stay with the herd while males would leave when they reached 12-15 years of age.
Reproduction
Gestation was 22 months, after which a single young was produced and suckled until 2-3 years old. Adult males lived apart from the herds, joining them only during the breeding season to mate with receptive females. Adult males would have fought for access to the female herds at this time
Conservation status
Columbian mammoths became extinct approximately 12,500 years ago.
Notes
Certain plants in North America produce huge fruits which no modern American animals eat. Such plants do not therefore have a natural method of seed dispersal. One example is a tree called the Osage orange, which produces grapefruit-sized fruit. It is believed that large extinct animals such as the mammoths would have been the natural dispersal agents for this species. The fruit would have been eaten but the seeds would have passed harmlessly through the animal’s gut to be ejected with the dung, allowing them to germinate and colonise new areas.
History
The Columbian mammoth was a uniquely American species which evolved from an ancestor that colonised the New World about 1.5 million years ago. In Eurasia, this same ancestor evolved separately into the woolly mammoth.
Closest relative
Modern elephants.
---
The Columbian Mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) is an extinct species of elephant that inhabited the Great Plain of North America between 100,000 and 14,000 years ago. The species was one of the largest mammoths to have lived, measuring 4 metres at the shoulder and weighing 10,000kg (9.8 tons). It was a herbivore, with a diet consisting of varied plant life ranging from grasses to conifers. It is also theorised that the Columbian Mammoth ate the giant fruits of North America such as the Osage-orange, Kentucky coffee and Honey locust as there was no other large herbivore in North America then that could ingest these fruits.
The animal had a gestation period of 22 months, resulting in a single calf being born. The social structure of the animal was probably the same as that of modern day African and Asian elephants, with females living in herds headed by a matriach, whilst bulls were forced to live in solitary or loose groups after sexual maturity.
The Columbian Mammoth became extinct at the same time as the rest of the American Megafauna about 14,000 years ago.
Portuguese name: Mamute-columbino or Mamute-americano
Sources:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammuthus_columbi
www.avph.cjb.net/
www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/3000.shtml
