American mastodon

Mammut americanum · The American mastodon was a huge, elephant-related animal that lived in North America until about 11,000 years ago.

It lived about 4.7 to 0.011 million years ago.

American mastodon
Photo: Dantheman9758, CC BY-SA 3.0
American mastodon
Photo: Olmagon, CC BY-SA 4.0
American mastodon
Photo: Thomas Quine, CC BY 2.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassMammalia
OrderProboscidea
FamilyMammutidae
GenusMammut
SpeciesMammut americanum

Where its fossils were found

North America, from Alaska to Florida and south to Puebla in central Mexico.

Fun facts

  • Mastodons were so stocky that one could weigh up to 80% more than an elephant of the same shoulder height.
  • A mastodon's stomach contents show it ate spruce needles, pine cones, grass, and sometimes gourds and vine leaves.
  • A male mastodon nicknamed "Fred" lived 34 years, and his tusks grew for about 30 of them.
  • Mastodon fur in old paintings may be exaggerated, and one claimed 19th-century hair find turned out to be just green algae filaments.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).