The mammoth is a mystery that has aroused the curiosity of researchers for more than two hundred years. What were they like, how did they live and why did they die out? All these questions still do not have exact answers. Some scientists blame them mass death famine, the second - the ice age, the third - ancient hunters who destroyed herds for meat, skins and tusks. Official version No.
Who are mammoths
The ancient mammoth was a mammal belonging to the elephant family. The main species had sizes comparable to those of their close relatives - elephants. Their weight often did not exceed 900 kg, and their height did not exceed 2 meters. However, there were more “representative” varieties, whose weight reached 13 tons and height - 6 meters.
Mammoths differed from elephants in having a more bulky body, short legs and long hair. Characteristic sign- large curved tusks that were used by prehistoric animals to dig out food from under snow debris. They also had molars with a large number of thin dentino-enamel plates, which were used for processing fibrous roughage.
Appearance
The skeletal structure of the ancient mammoth is in many ways similar to the structure of the Indian elephant living today. Of greatest interest are the giant tusks, the length of which could reach up to 4 meters and weight up to 100 kg. They were located in the upper jaw, grew forward and bent upward, “spreading” to the sides.
The tail and ears, pressed tightly to the skull, were different small in size, there was straight black bangs on the head, and a hump stood out on the back. The large body with a slightly lowered rear was based on stable legs-pillars. The legs had an almost horn-like (very thick) sole, reaching a diameter of 50 cm.
The coat had a light brown or yellowish-brown tint, the tail, legs and withers were decorated with noticeable black spots. The fur “skirt” fell from the sides, almost reaching the ground. The “clothes” of prehistoric animals were very warm.
Tusk
A mammoth is an animal whose tusk was unique not only for its increased strength, but also for its unique range of colors. The bones lay underground for several thousand years and underwent mineralization. Their shades have acquired a wide range - from purple to snow-white. Darkening, which occurs as a result of the work of nature, increases the value of the tusk.
The tusks of prehistoric animals were not as perfect as the tools of elephants. They were easily worn down and developed cracks. It is believed that mammoths used them to obtain food for themselves - branches, tree bark. Sometimes animals formed 4 tusks, the second pair was thin and often fused with the main one.
Unique colors make mammoth tusks popular in the production of luxury boxes, snuff boxes, and chess sets. They are used to create gift figurines, ladies' jewelry, and expensive weapons. Artificial reproduction of special colors is not possible, which is why high price products created on the basis of mammoth tusks. Real ones, of course, not fake ones.
Everyday life of mammoths
60 years is the average life expectancy of giants who lived on earth several thousand years ago. Mammoth - its food was mainly herbaceous plants, tree shoots, small shrubs, and moss. The daily norm is about 250 kg of vegetation, which forced the animals to spend about 18 hours daily on feeding and constantly change their location in search of fresh pastures.
Researchers are convinced that mammoths practiced a herd lifestyle and gathered in small groups. The standard group consisted of 9-10 adult representatives of the species, and cubs were also present. As a rule, the role of leader of the herd was assigned to the oldest female.
By the age of 10, the animals reached sexual maturity. At this time, matured males left the maternal herd, moving to a solitary existence.
Habitat
Modern research has established that mammoths, which appeared on earth approximately 4.8 million years ago, disappeared only about 4 thousand years ago, and not 9-10, as previously thought. These animals lived on the lands North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Bones of mighty animals, drawings and sculptures depicting them are often discovered at the sites of ancient inhabitants
Mammoths in Russia were also common in large quantities, Siberia is especially famous for its interesting finds. A huge “cemetery” of these animals was discovered in Khanty-Mansiysk, even a monument was erected in their honor. By the way, it was in the lower reaches of the Lena that the remains of a mammoth were first (officially) found.
Mammoths, or rather their remains, are still being discovered in Russia.
Causes of extinction
Until now, the history of mammoths has large gaps. In particular, this concerns the reasons for their extinction. A wide variety of versions have been put forward. The original hypothesis was proposed by Jean Baptiste Lamarck. According to the scientist, absolute extinction biological species is not possible, he only turns into another. However, official descendants of mammoths have not yet been identified.
I disagree with my colleague, blaming the death of mammoths on a flood (or other global disasters that took place during the period of extinction of the population). He argues that the Earth has often experienced short-term catastrophes that completely exterminated a particular species.
Brocchi, a paleontologist originally from Italy, believes that every living creature on the planet has a certain period of existence. The scientist compares the disappearance of entire species with the aging and death of an organism, which is why, in his opinion, the mysterious history of mammoths has ended.
The most popular theory, which has many adherents in the scientific community, is climate theory. About 15-10 thousand years ago due to northern zone The tundra-steppe became a swamp, the southern one was filled with coniferous forests. The grasses that previously formed the basis of the animals’ diet were replaced by moss and branches, which, according to scientists, led to their extinction.
Ancient hunters
How the first people hunted mammoths has not yet been established exactly. It was the hunters of those times who are often accused of exterminating large animals. This version is supported by products made from tusks and skins, which are constantly discovered in the sites of the inhabitants of ancient times.
However, modern research makes this assumption increasingly questionable. According to a number of scientists, people only finished off weak and sick representatives of the species, without hunting healthy ones. Bogdanov, the creator of the work “Secrets of the Lost Civilization,” gives reasonable arguments in favor of the impossibility of hunting mammoths. He believes that the weapons that the residents possessed ancient earth, it is simply impossible to pierce the skin of these animals.
Another compelling argument is the stringy, tough meat, almost unsuitable for food.
Close relatives
Elefas primigenius is the name of mammoths in Latin. The name indicates their close relationship with elephants, since the translation sounds like “first-born elephant.” There are even hypotheses that the mammoth is the progenitor of modern elephants, which were the result of evolution, adaptation to a warm climate.
A study by German scientists who compared the DNA of mammoth and elephant suggests that the Indian elephant and mammoth are two branches, the genealogy of which is traced back to African elephant for about 6 million years now. The ancestor of this animal, as modern discoveries have shown, lived on Earth approximately 7 million years ago, which makes the version valid.
Known specimens
“The Last Mammoth” is a title that can be assigned to baby Dimka, a six-month-old mammoth whose remains were found by workers in 1977 near Magadan. About 40 thousand years ago, this baby fell through the ice, which caused his mummification. This is by far the best preserved specimen yet discovered by mankind. Dimka has become a source of valuable information for those researching the extinct species.
Equally famous is the Adams mammoth, which became the first full-fledged skeleton to be shown to the public. This happened back in 1808, since then the copy has been located in the Museum of the Academy of Sciences. The find belonged to the hunter Osip Shumakhov, who lived by collecting mammoth bones.
The Berezovsky mammoth has a similar story; it was also found by a tusk hunter on the banks of one of the rivers in Siberia. The conditions for excavating the remains could not be called favorable; the extraction was carried out in parts. The preserved mammoth bones became the basis for a giant skeleton, soft fabrics- object of research. Death overtook the animal at the age of 55.
Matilda, a female of a prehistoric species, was discovered by schoolchildren. An event happened in 1939, the remains were discovered on the banks of the Oesh River.
Revival is possible
Modern researchers never cease to be interested in such a prehistoric animal as the mammoth. The significance of prehistoric finds for science is nothing other than the motivation underlying all attempts to resurrect it. So far, attempts to clone the extinct species have not yielded tangible results. This is due to the lack of material of the required quality. However, research in this area is not going to stop. Currently, scientists are relying on the remains of a female found not so long ago. The specimen is valuable because it has preserved liquid blood.
Despite the failure of cloning, it has been proven that the appearance of the ancient inhabitant of the Earth has been restored exactly, as well as his habits. Mammoths look exactly as they are presented on the pages of textbooks. The most interesting discovery is that the closer the period of residence of a discovered biological species to our time, the more fragile its skeleton is.
Woolly mammoths were closely related genetically to today's Asian elephants. They were very similar to their modern cousins, except for one big difference. They were covered with thick wool, brown in color, such thick wool helped to retain body heat on the cold Arctic plains. Even the ears of these animals were covered with thick fur.
Woolly mammoths grew about 13 feet (4 meters) tall and weighed up to 6 tons (5.44 metric tons), according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). According to National Geographic, the hair on some parts of the body could be up to 3 feet (1 m) long. The main types of mammoths did not exceed modern elephants in size, but the subspecies called Mammuthus imperator, which lived in North America, reached a height of 5 meters and a mass of 12 tons, and the dwarf species Mammuthus exilis and Mammuthus lamarmorae did not exceed 2 meters in height and gained weight no more than 900 kg.
Their huge curved tusks may have been used for fighting. Mammoths also may have used them to dig out bushes, grasses, roots and other small plants from under the snow.
You will be interested to know: a very well-preserved corpse of a female mammoth calf (who was given the name Lyuba) was found in Siberia. After conducting a CT scan, scientists found that the baby died after getting stuck in a swamp more than 40,000 years ago.
Although woolly mammoths went extinct about 10,000 years ago, people know very little about them, due to the fact that these animals lived in places that were very difficult for humans to reach. IN permafrost There are many corpses of woolly mammoths preserved in the Arctic. When the ice around the banks of ancient rivers and streams broke up, the corpses of long-dead mammoths were often discovered, looking almost the same as when they died.
For example, in 2007, a pair of mummified mammoth calves were found in Siberia. The bodies were so well preserved that a CT scan revealed the cause of death: they, like the baby mammoth Lyuba, had drowned in mud 40,000 years ago. The mud was like a thick dough that blocked their tracheas, said study co-author Daniel Fisher, director of the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology.
Botanist Mikhail Ivanovich Adams restored the first fossilized skeleton of a Siberian woolly mammoth 1806. Since then, more than a dozen soft tissue samples have been found.
Habitat
Although woolly mammoths are known for living in the cold lands of the Arctic, they actually came there from much more warm places. A study conducted by a team from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, found that the ancestors of mammoths and Asian elephants appeared in Africa approximately 6.7 million to 7 million years ago. They are believed to have lived there for about 4 million years and then migrated to southern Europe.
About a million years passed and they spread even further into Asia as far as Siberia and the northern plains of Canada. It was at this time that a catastrophe occurred on the planet, causing a global “Ice Age,” said Kevin Campbell from the research group at the University of Manitoba.
Scientists believe woolly mammoths were able to survive in a much colder climate thanks to sudden genetic mutation, which may have changed the way the blood transports oxygen throughout the body, allowing the body to retain more heat.
The mammoth fauna included about 80 species of mammals, which, thanks to a number of anatomical, physiological and behavioral adaptations, were able to adapt to living in the cold continental climate periglacial forest-steppe and tundra-steppe regions with their permafrost, harsh winters with little snow and powerful summer insolation. Around the turn of the Holocene, about 11 thousand years ago, due to a sharp warming and humidification of the climate, which led to the unfreezing of the tundra-steppes and other fundamental changes in landscapes, the mammoth fauna disintegrated. Some species, such as the mammoth itself, the woolly rhinoceros, the giant deer, the cave lion and others, have disappeared from the face of the earth. A number of large species of calloused and ungulates - wild camels, horses, yaks, saiga - have been preserved in the steppes Central Asia, some others have adapted to life in completely different natural areas(bison, kulan); many, such as reindeer, musk ox, arctic fox, wolverine, mountain hare and others, were forced far to the north and sharply reduced their area of distribution. The reasons for the extinction of the mammoth fauna are not fully known. Over the long history of its existence, it has already experienced warm interglacial periods, and was then able to survive. Obviously, the latest warming has caused a more significant restructuring of the natural environment, and perhaps the species themselves have exhausted their evolutionary capabilities.
Mammoths, woolly (Mammuthus primigenius) and Columbian (Mammuthus columbi), lived in the Pleistocene-Holocene over a vast territory: from Southern and Central Europe to Chukotka, Northern China and Japan (Hokkaido Island), as well as in North America. The existence of the Columbian mammoth was 250 - 10, woolly 300 - 4 thousand years ago (some researchers also include southern (2300 - 700 thousand years old) and trogontherian (750 - 135 thousand years old) elephants to the genus Mammuthus). Contrary to popular belief, mammoths were not the ancestors of modern elephants: they appeared on earth later and died out without leaving even distant descendants. Mammoths roamed in small herds, sticking to river valleys and feeding on grass, branches of trees and bushes. Such herds were very mobile - collecting the required amount of food in the tundra-steppe was not easy. The size of the mammoths was quite impressive: large males could reach a height of 3.5 meters, and their tusks were up to 4 m long and weighed about 100 kilograms. A thick coat, 70-80 cm long, protected mammoths from the cold. Average duration life was 4550, maximum 80 years. The main reason for the extinction of these highly specialized animals is the sharp warming and humidification of the climate at the boundary of the Pleistocene and Holocene, snowy winters, as well as extensive marine transgression that flooded the shelf of Eurasia and North America.
The structural features of the limbs and trunk, the proportions of the body, the shape and size of the mammoth’s tusks indicate that it, like modern elephants, ate various plant foods. With the help of tusks, animals dug out food from under the snow and tore off the bark of trees; Wedge ice was mined and used in winter instead of water. For grinding food, the mammoth had only one, very large tooth on each side of the upper and lower jaws at the same time. The chewing surface of these teeth was a wide, long plate covered with transverse enamel ridges. Apparently, in warm time years, the animals fed mainly on herbaceous vegetation. In the intestines and mouth dead in the summer Mammoths were dominated by cereals and sedges; lingonberry bushes, green mosses and thin shoots of willow, birch, and alder were found in small quantities. The weight of an adult mammoth's stomach filled with food could reach 240 kg. It can be assumed that in winter time, especially in snowy areas, shoots of trees and shrubs acquired primary importance in the diet of animals. The huge amount of food consumed forced mammoths, like modern elephants, to lead an active lifestyle and often change their feeding areas.
Adult mammoths were massive animals, with relatively long legs and a short body. Their height at the withers reached 3.5 m in males and 3 m in females. Characteristic feature appearance The mammoth had a sharp sloping back, and for old males there was a pronounced cervical interception between the “hump” and the head. In mammoth calves, these exterior features were softened, and top line the head and back were a single, slightly curved upward arc. Such an arch is present in adult mammoths, as well as in modern elephants, and is connected, purely mechanically, with maintaining the enormous weight of the internal organs. The mammoth's head was larger than that of modern elephants. The ears are small, oval elongated, 5–6 times smaller than those of the Asian elephant, and 15–16 times smaller than those of the African elephant. The rostral part of the skull was quite narrow, the alveoli of the tusks were located very close to each other, and the base of the trunk rested on them. The tusks are more powerful than those of African and Asian elephants: their length in old males reached 4 m with a base diameter of 1618 cm, in addition, they were twisted up and inward. The tusks of females were smaller (2–2.2 m, diameter at the base 8–10 cm) and almost straight. The ends of the tusks, due to the peculiarities of foraging, were usually worn away only from the outside. The mammoths' legs were massive, five-toed, with 3 small hooves on the front legs and 4 on the hind legs; the feet are rounded, their diameter in adults was 40–45 cm. The special arrangement of the bones of the hand contributed to its greater compactness, and the loose subcutaneous tissue and elastic skin allowed the foot to expand and increase its area on soft marshy soils. But still, the most unique feature of the mammoth’s external appearance is its thick coat, which consisted of three types of hair: undercoat, intermediate and covering, or guard hair. The topography and color of the coat was relatively the same in males and females: a cap of black, forward-directed coarse hair, 15–20 cm long, grew on the forehead and crown, and the trunk and ears were covered with undercoat and a brown or brownish awn. The entire body of the mammoth was also covered with long, 80–90 cm guard hairs, under which a thick yellowish undercoat was hidden. The color of the skin of the body was light yellow or brown; dark pigment spots were observed in areas free from fur. During the winter, mammoths moulted; The winter coat was thicker and lighter than the summer coat.
Mammoths had a special relationship with primitive man. Mammoth remains at early Paleolithic human sites were quite rare and belonged mainly to young individuals. It seems that primitive hunters of that period did not hunt mammoths often, and the hunt for these huge animals was rather a random event. In Late Paleolithic settlements, the picture changes dramatically: the number of bones increases, the ratio of hunted males, females and young animals approaches the natural structure of the herd. The hunting of mammoths and other large animals of that period no longer acquired a selective, but a mass character; The main method of catching animals is driving them onto rocky cliffs, into trapping pits, onto the fragile ice of rivers and lakes, into swampy areas of swamps and on rafting grounds. The hunted animals were finished off with stones, darts and spears with stone tips. Mammoth meat was used for food, tusks were used to make weapons and crafts, bones, skulls and skins were used to build dwellings and ritual structures. Mass hunting by people of the Late Paleolithic, the growth in the number of tribes of hunters, the improvement of hunting tools and methods of production against the backdrop of constantly deteriorating living conditions associated with changes in familiar landscapes, according to some researchers, played a decisive role in the fate of these animals.
The importance of mammoths in the life of primitive people is evidenced by the fact that 20–30 thousand years ago, artists of the Cro-Magnon era depicted mammoths on stone and bone, using flint burins and brushes with ocher, ferric oxide and manganese oxides. The paint was first ground with fat or bone marrow. Flat images were painted on cave walls, on slate and graphite plates, and on fragments of tusks; sculptural - created from bone, marl or slate using flint burins. It is very possible that such figurines were used as talismans, family totems, or played another ritual role. Despite the limitations expressive means, many of the images are made very artistically, and quite accurately convey the appearance of fossil giants.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, a little more than twenty reliable finds of mammoth remains in the form of frozen carcasses, their parts, skeletons with remains of soft tissue and skin were known in Siberia. It can also be assumed that some of the finds remained unknown to science; many were discovered too late and could not be examined. Using the example of the Adams mammoth, discovered in 1799 on the Bykovsky Peninsula, it is clear that news about the found animals reached the Academy of Sciences only several years after they were discovered, and getting to the far corners of Siberia even in the second half of the twentieth century was not easy . The greatest difficulty was extracting the corpse from the frozen ground and transporting it. The work of excavating and delivering a mammoth discovered in the Berezovka River valley in 1900 (undoubtedly the most significant paleozoological discovery of the early twentieth century) can be called heroic without exaggeration.
In the 20th century, the number of finds of mammoth remains in Siberia doubled. This is due to the widespread development of the North, the rapid development of transport and communications, and the rise in the cultural level of the population. The first complex expedition using modern technology was a trip for the Taimyr mammoth, found in 1948 on an unnamed river, later called the Mammoth River. Removing the remains of animals “sealed” into the permafrost has become much easier these days thanks to the use of motor pumps that defrost and erode the soil with water. The “cemetery” of mammoths, discovered by N.F., should be considered a remarkable natural monument. Grigoriev in 1947 on the Berelekh River (the left tributary of the Indigirka River) in Yakutia. For 200 meters, the river bank here is covered with a scattering of mammoth bones washed out of the bank slope.
By studying the Magadan (1977) and Yamal (1988) mammoth calves, scientists were able to clarify not only many issues of the anatomy and morphology of mammoths, but also draw a number of important conclusions about their habitat and the causes of extinction. The last few years have brought new remarkable discoveries in Siberia: special mention should be made of the Yukagir mammoth (2002), which represents unique, from a scientific point of view, material (the head of an adult mammoth was discovered with remains of soft tissue and wool) and a baby mammoth found in 2007 in the river basin Yuribey in Yamal. Outside Russia, it is necessary to note the finds of mammoth remains made by American scientists in Alaska, as well as a unique “trap cemetery” with the remains of more than 100 mammoths, discovered by L. Agenbrod in the town of Hot Springs (South Dakota, USA) in 1974.
The exhibits in the mammoth hall are unique - after all, the animals presented here disappeared from the face of the earth several thousand years ago. Some of the most significant of them need to be discussed in more detail.
Squad - Proboscis
Family - Elephantids
Genus/Species - Mammuthus primigenius. Mammoth
Basic data:
DIMENSIONS
Height: 3.5 m.
Tusk length: up to 5 m.
Weight: 5000-7000 kg.
REPRODUCTION
Puberty: from 10 years old.
Mating season: no data.
Pregnancy: 22 months.
Number of cubs: 1.
LIFESTYLE
Habits: Mammoths (see photo) are herd animals.
Food: plants.
RELATED SPECIES
Southern elephant ( M.meridionalis, var. Archidiskodon meridionalis) appeared about 2 million years ago in the forests of southern Europe. Outwardly he resembled. The direct ancestor of the mammoth is the trogontherian elephant (mammoth) M. trogontherii(Middle Pleistocene), lived in the European steppes and was the first mammoth with developed fur.
Mammoths thrived in the harsh Arctic climate thanks to their long wool and food reserves. subcutaneous fat. Paleontologists often find the remains of several animals in one place - this means that mammoths lived in herds.
FOOD
Mammoths were herbivores. In England, paleontologists have found several mammoths that are surprisingly well preserved. Researchers were even able to study the contents of their stomachs. In the stomachs of mammoths, scientists found remains of leaves and branches of hazel and hornbeam. Mammoths ate forest plants. They picked and put food into their mouths using a long trunk, then chewed it with their cheek teeth. The teeth of mammoths were similar to the teeth of their contemporaries - elephants. In the north, where the ground was covered with snow most of the year, mammoths ate whatever vegetation was available. In winter, mammoths survived thanks to large reserves of fat and evergreen plants.
REPRODUCTION
Mammoths are in many ways similar to modern elephants, so it is quite easy to theoretically imagine the process of their reproduction. The female mammoth carried the fetus for about two years, then gave birth to one cub, which was raised by the entire herd until the age of ten (mammoths, like modern African and Indian elephants, kept in herds). At the age of ten, the young mammoth reached sexual maturity. He could live a long life - more than 60 years.
ENEMIES
Despite their enormous growth, mammoths were very calm and completely non-aggressive animals.
The greatest danger to mammoths was posed by primitive people who hunted them for meat: they caught them in pit traps covered on top with branches and leaves and killed them with spears and axes. Primitive people completely used the carcass of the caught animal for their needs: they ate the meat and fat, and made clothes from the skins and covered their primitive dwellings with them. In the same area they lived who hunted baby mammoths, easily killing prey with fangs that reached 22 cm in length. They were also dangerous for children wolf packs. at that time they were so bold that they stole prey directly from the mouth of a saber-toothed tiger. According to researchers, wolves, after humans, were the most dangerous enemies for mammoths.
INTERESTING INFORMATION. DID YOU KNOW THAT...
- The ears of mammoths were significantly smaller than those of modern elephants - this is explained by the fact that the cold climate reigned on Earth at that time.
- The corpses of mammoths were found in the permafrost soil, which were well preserved.
- Cave paintings of mammoths can be seen in the Roufignac cave in France.
- In some areas of Siberia, people often find the remains of mammoths. You can buy tusks from these ancient animals on the local black market.
- Participants at a scientific symposium were offered small portions of mammoth steak, frozen thousands of years ago.
- More than 4,500 mammoth fossils have been found in Siberia. Scientists believe that the soil may contain approximately 500 thousand tons of mammoth tusks.
FOOD AND ENEMIES OF THE MAMMOTH
Herbivores mammoths ate leaves hazel And hornbeam and did not pose a danger to other animals. They were hunted by humans, and baby mammoths were a favorite prey saber tooth tiger.
-Places where mammoth remains were found
WHERE AND WHEN THE MAMMOTH LIVED
Fossil remains of mammoths have been found in Siberia and many places in northern Europe, gravel mining sites in the British Isles, northern Asia and North America. Mammoths lived in the Arctic steppes and tundra at the end of the Pleistocene, which ended 10 thousand years ago.
ARCTIC NEIGHBORS
At the same time as the mammoth, the hairy rhinoceros lived in the Arctic, Europe and East Asia ( Coelodonta).
A mammoth with non-freezing blood was found in the Arctic. Video (00:02:14)
A mammoth with non-freezing blood was found in the Arctic
A unique find of Yakut scientists. On the islands of the Novosibirsk archipelago, they discovered the carcass of a female mammoth well preserved in the ice. The prehistoric animal has almost retained its original appearance.
27.05.2013
Mammoth. Video (00:01:50)
In the Krasnoyarsk Regional Museum of Local Lore there is a paleontology hall, where the skeleton of a mammoth is located. And this is a video from, which asks another question for little Krasnoyarsk residents.
Mammoth Zhenya will confirm scientific hypotheses. Video (00:07:50)
A mammoth was discovered in Taimyr, which had lain in permafrost for more than 30 thousand years. The giant was so well preserved that it had to be rescued from dogs ready to eat the fossil meat. For the first time in more than 100 years, paleontologists had at their disposal not only the skeleton, but also most of the soft tissues of the animal - muscles, fat and even internal organs. And the first on-site examination of the carcass led to a sensation.
An adult mammoth in this good condition were found only in 1901 on the banks of the Berezovka River, a tributary of the Kolyma. Even a cursory examination of the new find has already made it possible to confirm several scientific hypotheses. For example, prove that an animal’s hump is a fat deposit, like that of a horse, and not a structural feature of the skeleton.
“This was first noticed in Paleolithic drawings, and everyone thought, why are they so hunchbacked?” says Alexey Tikhonov, deputy director of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. “It was believed that it was due to the fact that they have very large bony processes of the thoracic vertebrae. It turns out , no. We see that this animal was perfectly adapted to living conditions in the north. You see what powerful reserves of fat it accumulated for the winter."
Woolly Mammoth filmed In Siberia!!! There is a live mammoth in Siberia!!! Video (00:00:24)
Stunning footage captured by a Russian engineer allegedly shows the furry animal, roughly the size of an elephant, crossing a river in the Siberian wilderness. Like the animals of those ancient years, the beast in the video has red hair and easily distinguishable huge tusks. The animal walks waving its trunk, and its fur resembles extant samples of mammoth hair discovered in the permafrost of frosty Russia. Incredible video recording was made last summer in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in Siberia as an engineer working at a state enterprise. Having first published the video anonymously, the Russian said he wanted to draw attention to the fact that woolly mammoths still exist in vast, unexplored areas of Siberia.
Unraveling the fate of woolly mammoths can shed light on what happened on our planet many tens and hundreds of years ago. Modern paleontologists are studying the remains of these giants in order to find out more precisely what they looked like, what kind of lifestyle they led, who is related to modern elephants, and why they became extinct. The results of the researchers' work will be discussed below.
Mammoths are large herd animals belonging to the elephant family. Representatives of one of their varieties, called the woolly mammoth (mammuthus primigenius), inhabited the northern regions of Europe, Asia and North America, presumably between 300 and 10 thousand years ago. When favorable climatic conditions they did not leave the territories of Canada and Siberia, but in harsh times crossed the borders of modern China and the United States, ending up in Central Europe and even Spain and Mexico. During that era, Siberia was also inhabited by many other unusual animals, which paleontologists grouped into a category called the “mammoth fauna.” In addition to the mammoth, it includes animals such as the woolly rhinoceros, primitive bison, horse, aurochs, etc.
Many people mistakenly believe that woolly mammoths are the ancestors of modern elephants. In fact, both species simply share a common ancestor, and therefore a close relationship.
What did the animal look like?
According to the description at the end XVIII century According to the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, the woolly mammoth is a gigantic animal, the height of which at the withers reached about 3.5 meters with an average weight of 5.5 tons, and a maximum weight of up to 8 tons! The length of the coat, consisting of coarse hair and thick soft undercoat, reached more than a meter. The thickness of the mammoth's skin was almost 2 cm. A 10-centimeter layer of subcutaneous fat, together with wool, served the giants as reliable protection from the cold. The summer coat was somewhat shorter and not as thick as the winter coat. Most likely, it was black or dark brown in color. Scientists explain the brown color of the specimens found in the ice by the fading of the fur.
According to another version, a thick layer of subcutaneous fat and the presence of wool are evidence that mammoths constantly lived in a warm climate with an abundance of food. Otherwise, how could they gain such significant fat deposits? Scientists who adhere to this opinion cite two types of modern animals as examples: fairly well-fed tropical rhinoceroses and slender reindeer. The presence of hair on a mammoth should also not be considered evidence of a harsh climate, because the Malaysian elephant also has hair and at the same time feels great, living on the equator itself.
Many thousands of years ago high temperatures in the Far North were provided with the help greenhouse effect, which was caused by the presence of a steam-water dome, due to which abundant vegetation was present in the Arctic. This is confirmed by the many remains of not only mammoths, but also other heat-loving animals. Thus, skeletons of camels, lions and dinosaurs were found in Alaska. And in areas where there are no trees at all these days, thick and rather tall trunks have been found along with the skeletons of mammoths and horses.
Let's return to the description of mammuthus primigenius. The length of the tusks of older individuals reached 4 meters, and the mass of these bony processes twisted upward was more than a hundredweight. The average length of the tusks varied between 2.5 - 3 m with a weight of 40 - 60 kg.
Mammoths also differed from modern elephants in having smaller ears and a trunk, the presence of a special growth on the skull, and a high hump on the back. In addition, the spine of their woolly relative curved sharply downward at the rear.
The most recent woolly mammoths living on Wrangel Island were significantly smaller in size than their ancestors; their height at the withers was slightly less than 2 meters. But despite this, in the era ice age this animal was largest representative fauna throughout Eurasia.
Lifestyle
The basis of the mammoth diet was plant food, the average daily volume of which included almost 500 kg of various greens: grass, leaves, young tree branches and pine needles. This is confirmed by studies of the stomach contents of mammuthus primigenius and indicates that giant animals chose to live in areas where both tundra and steppe flora were present.
The giants lived up to 70–80 years. They became sexually mature at 12–14 years of age. The most viable hypothesis suggests that the lifestyle of these animals was the same as that of elephants. That is, mammoths lived in a group of 2–9 individuals, headed by the eldest female. Males led a solitary lifestyle and joined groups only during the rutting period.
Artifacts
Bones of mammuthus primigenius are found in almost all regions of the northern hemisphere of our planet, but the most generous region for such “gifts from the past” is Eastern Siberia. During the life of the giants, the climate in this region was not harsh, but soft and temperate.
Thus, in 1799, on the banks of the Lena, the remains of a woolly mammoth were first found, which was named “Lensky”. A century later, this skeleton became the most valuable exhibit of the new St. Petersburg Zoological Museum.
Later on the territory of Russia the following mammoths were found: in 1901 - “Berezovsky” (Yakutia); in 1939 – “Oeshsky” (Novosibirsk region); in 1949 – “Taimyrsky” (Taimyr Peninsula); in 1977 - (Magadan); in 1988 – (Yamal Peninsula); in 2007 – (Yamal Peninsula); in 2009 - baby mammoth Khrom (Yakutia); 2010 – (Yakutia).
The most valuable finds include the “Berezovsky mammoth” and the baby mammoth Khroma - individuals completely frozen in a block of ice. According to paleontologists, they remained captive in ice for more than 30 thousand years. Scientists managed to obtain not only perfect samples different tissues, but also to get acquainted with food from the stomach of animals that has not had time to be digested.
The richest place for mammoth remains is the New Siberian Islands. According to the descriptions of the researchers who discovered them, these territories consist almost entirely of tusks and bones.
Thanks to the collected material, in 2008, researchers from Canada managed to decipher 70% of the woolly mammoth genome, and 8 years later their Russian colleagues completed this ambitious work. Over many years of painstaking work, they were able to assemble about 3.5 billion particles into a single sequence. In this they were helped by the genetic material of the above-mentioned mammoth Chroma.
Reasons for the extinction of mammoths
Scientists around the world have been arguing for two centuries regarding the reasons for the disappearance of woolly mammoths from our planet. During this time, many hypotheses have been put forward, the most viable of which is considered to be a sharp cooling caused by the destruction of the steam-water dome.
This could happen for various reasons, for example, due to an asteroid falling to Earth. During its fall, the celestial body split the once united continent, which is why water vapor above the planet’s atmosphere first condensed and then poured out in heavy rain (about 12 m of precipitation). This provoked intense movement of powerful mud flows, which along their path carried away animals and formed stratigraphic layers. With the disappearance of the greenhouse dome, the Arctic was covered with ice and snow. As a result of this, all representatives of the fauna were instantly buried in permafrost. This is why some woolly mammoths are found “fresh frozen” with clovers, buttercups, wild legumes and gladioli in their mouths or stomachs. Neither the listed plants, nor even their distant relatives now grow in Siberia. Because of this, paleontologists insist on the version that mammoths were killed at lightning speed due to a climate disaster.
This assumption interested paleoclimatologists and they, taking the drilling results as a basis, came to the conclusion that in the period from 130 to 70 thousand years ago, a fairly mild climate reigned in the northern territories located between 55 and 70 degrees. It can be compared to the modern climate of northern Spain.
July 17, 2017