Woolly mammoth facts for kids

The woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) was a giant, hairy elephant that lived during the Ice Age. We know about these amazing animals from their bones and even frozen bodies found in very cold places like northern North America and northern Eurasia. The best-preserved mammoths have been discovered in Siberia. Woolly mammoths are probably the most famous type of mammoth!

Quick facts for kids Woolly mammoths Temporal range: Pleistocene – Holocene
Woolly mammoth
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Proboscidea
Family:	Elephantidae
Genus:	†Mammuthus
Binomial name
Mammuthus primigenius (Blumenbach, 1799)

These huge mammoths first appeared in Eurasia around 150,000 years ago. This was a time when large parts of the Earth were covered in ice.

Woolly mammoths lived at the same time as early humans. People hunted mammoths for food. They also used mammoth bones and tusks to make tools and even build shelters. Most woolly mammoths disappeared about 10,000 years ago, when the last Ice Age ended. However, a smaller group of them lived on Wrangel Island until about 1700 BC.

What Did Woolly Mammoths Look Like?

Woolly mammoths were very large elephants. They were covered in thick, shaggy hair to keep warm in the cold Ice Age climate. We know what they looked like from ancient Cave paintings found in caves in France and Spain. Woolly mammoths are closely related to today's Asian Elephants.

Images for kids

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  Copy of an interpretation of the "Adams mammoth" carcass from around 1800, with Johann Friedrich Blumenbach's handwriting

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  1930s illustration of the lectotype molars; the left one is now lost.

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  Georges Cuvier's 1796 comparison between the mandible of a woolly mammoth (bottom left and top right) and an Indian elephant (top left and bottom right)

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  Model at the Royal BC Museum

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  Skull from Poland with one broken and one downward spiralled tusk

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  Molar from Font de Champdamoy, France, Musée Georges-Garret

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  Life restoration of fauna during the Pleistocene epoch in northern Spain, by Mauricio Antón, 2004

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  Mandibles and lower molars, Barcelona

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  Male tusk with signs of wear

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  Cross sections of African elephant and woolly mammoth tusks; growth rings can be used to determine age

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  Mural depicting a herd walking near the Somme River in France, by Charles R. Knight, 1916

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  Woolly mammoth engraved on ivory, discovered by Édouard Lartet in 1864

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  Reconstructed bone hut based on finds in Mezhyrich, exhibited in Japan

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  Palaeolithic projectile points made from mammoth ivory, Pekárna cave

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  Map showing climatic suitability for woolly mammoths in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene of Eurasia: red is increasing suitability, green is decreasing suitability. Black points are records of mammoths, black lines are the northern limit of humans

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  Mounted "family group" from Tomsk

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  Skull discovered by fishermen in the North Sea ("Doggerland"), at Celtic and Prehistoric Museum, Ireland

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  The calf "Lyuba", Royal BC Museum

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  Model in State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart

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  Elephants are highly gregarious, as shown by these Asian elephants

See also

In Spanish: Mamut lanudo para niños