The woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) was a large, extinct relative of modern elephants that lived during the Ice Age.
Scientific Classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidea
Family: Elephantidae
Genus: Mammuthus
Species: M. primigenius
Key Features
Thick fur for cold climates
Long, curved tusks used for digging snow and protection
A fat hump on its back to store energy
Smaller ears than modern elephants to reduce heat loss
Habitat
Lived in the cold, grassy plains of Europe, northern Asia, and North America known as the "mammoth steppe."
Diet
Herbivorous, feeding on grasses, shrubs, mosses, and other Ice Age plants.
Extinction
Disappeared around 4,000 years ago, likely because of climate change and overhunting by humans.
Fossils
Frozen bodies found in Siberia preserved skin, hair, and even DNA, helping scientists study them in detail.
Diet difference:Woolly mammoths ate cold grasses and sedges; other mammoths (e.g. Columbian) ate mixed shrubs and trees.
Last populations:On Wrangel Island, they were smaller, had genetic defects, and survived till ~4,000 years ago.
Reintroduction:Might help restore tundra grasslands, but risks unknown ecological impacts.
Genome vs elephants:99.96% similar to Asian elephants, with cold adaptation genes (hair, fat, temperature sensing).
Ethics of de-extinction:Raises animal welfare, ecological, and moral concerns.
Cave art insights:Shows humans hunted and used mammoths, revealing cultural and survival importance.