SIBERIAN MAMMOTHS

Giant Elks

Saber tooth Lions

 The mammoth whose remains were found in Siberia in 1901 was probably preserved by some great catastrophe.

The mammoth …had been frozen in a bank of flood ice on the slope of the river.

The fissures in the bank of flood ice on the Lena, filled with earth, and tundra plants took root on it.

"Its death must have occurred very quickly after its fall, for we found half-chewed food still in its mouth, between the back teeth and on its tongue, which was in good preservation.

The food contains leaves and grasses, some carrying seeds. Consequently, the mammoth died in late summer or the autumn."

 Mammoth skeleton

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The frozen mammoth remains from Siberia fall into two main groups:

One dating from about 45,000 BP to 30,000 BP (BP =before present)

and the other from 14,000 to 11,000 BP.

Mammoths were present in Siberia from 30,000 BP to 14,000 BP.

But the climatic conditions were not right for the formation of frozen carcasses. (Too warm*)

There are plenty of fossil bones (flesh not preserved*) of mammoths from 30,000 to 14,000 BP.

The mammoth diet, comprised of grasses, succulent herbs, and wormwood (artemisia *).

This flora disappeared around 9000 BC except for some small patches. The current boggy tundra vegetation and permafrost replaced it.

The climate in the sub-arctic region times was not always the same as it is now in Siberia.

Parts extracted from :

Woolly Mammoth Remains: Catastrophic Origins? by Sue Bishop

Woolly Mammoths: Suited for Cold? by Philip R. Burns

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Mastodons and Mammoths were closely related to today's elephants. The Mastodon was more heavily built with upward curving tusks. Mammoths ranged in size from 6 foot high up to the Imperial mammoth that stood 14 feet high at the shoulder. Mammoth tusks curved downward. Both were covered in thick yellow-brown or reddish brown hair.

These animals were vegetarians and probably feed primarily on leaves. Humans hunted both the mastodon and the mammoth.

Extract from :The woolly mammoth 1996, Lee Krystek.

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Giant elks

The Irish elk, Megaloceros, was larger than any existing deer and had antlers that spread 13 feet across. The rhinoceros, or Elasmotherium, had a six-foot long horn.

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Giant wolves

Sabre-tooth lions

Predators of the Pleistocene included the Dire Wolf, Canis Dirus, which was larger than current wolves, and the sabre-tooth lions. They were capable of hunting and killing mammoths.

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