Ten Questions: Woolly Mammoths

It's time for another Ten Questions! This time our subject will be the woolly mammoth. They are some of the most interesting animals in the history of the world. There is no possible way we can answer every good question about them with just ten, but we'll still answer some of the best ones.

Let's get to the questions!

01. How long ago did woolly mammoths live?
Woolly Mammoths lived from the Pleistocene to the early Holocene epoch. This was about 120,000 to 4,000 years ago.

02. Are there any woolly mammoths alive today?
No, woolly mammoths went extinct when the Ice Age ended 4000 years ago.

03. Why did the woolly mammoths go extinct?
The Woolly Mammoth probably went extinct because it couldn't adapt to the combined pressures of the climatic warming that occurred, together with predation from humans.

04. Are woolly mammoths related to any modern animal?
Woolly mammoths are most closely related to modern elephants, particularly Indian elephants.

05. Did woolly mammoths exist when dinosaurs did?
No, dinosaurs existed from 245 to 65 million years ago. Woolly mammoths came much more recently, only 120,000 years ago. This was millions of years after dinosaurs went extinct.

06. Did woolly mammoths exist at the same time as humans?
Yes, they did! People existed during the time of the woolly mammoths, and are even thought to have hunted them. Cave paintings of the woolly mammoth have been found in France and Spain.

07. Where did woolly mammoths live?
Woolly mammoths lived in the tundras of Asia, Europe, and North America.

08. What did woolly mammoths look like?
Woolly Mammoths had long, dense, dark black hair and underfur, long, curved tusks, a fatty hump, a long proboscis (nose), and large ears. They were about 11.5 feet (3.5 m) long, 9.5 feet (2.9 m) tall at the shoulder and weighed about 3 tons (2.75 tonnes).

09. What did woolly mammoths use those giant tusks for?
Woolly mammoths used their tusks for protection, in interspecies dominance, and for digging in the snow of the ice ages for grass and other food.

10. Which are larger, woolly mammoths, mastodons, or modern day elephants?
Woolly mammoths were the largest. Woolly mammoths were about 9.5-13.1 feet (2.9-4 m) tall at the shoulder. Elephants are second, at about 8-10 feet (2.5-3 m) tall at the shoulder. Mastodons were the smallest, at about 6.5-10 feet (2-3 m) tall at the shoulder.


How did you like this interesting bit of trivia? Obviously we can't answer all questions in just one article, but if we get enough feedback and a lot of comments we might just revisit this subject with another ten questions.