Tag Archives: Mammut americanum

The last trumpet of a giant

“The Columbian Mammoth of North America, Mammuthus columbi, is hereby designated as the official fossil of the state of Washington.” And so it was written. In 1998 the Washington State Legislature recognised the Columbian Mammoth as their official state fossil. The decision was not easy. … Continue reading

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The lolloping shovel mouth

My first introduction to gomphotheres was a research critique of a seminal Quaternary paper by Janzen in ‘Science’ journal. Something about these peculiar and ungainly looking distant cousins of today’s noble elephant fascinated me! Everyone has of course heard of woolly … Continue reading

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The Nipple Tooth

  In the everyday language of superlatives “mammoth” and “mastodon” are used almost interchangeably. Yet, despite superficial similarities due to homology through shared ancestry, the animals could not be more different. Mastodons are known from both the old world and … Continue reading

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