The Mammoth

The Mammoth is a specie of the extint genus mammuthus, proboscideans commonly equipped with long curved tusks and the bodies covered with long hairs. 
The African mammoth (M Africanavus) lived many years ago (about 5 million years ago till about 4,500 years ago) in Africa, Europe, Asia and North America (1,2). They disappeared about 3 to 4 million years ago. Remains of the mammoths have been found.

Like modern elephants, mammoths were quite large, up to 4m (13 ft) at the shoulder and weigh up to 8 tonnes. Dwarf form of mammoth are also known from fossils found on islands: M. Exilis.

The typical modern day elephant;

• Spends 16 to 18 hrs a day either feeding or moving around
• Consumes between 130 to 660 pounds (60 to 300 kg) of food every day
• Produces between 310 to 400 pounds (140 to 180 kg) of dung per day
• If the mammoths were larger than modern day elephants, the figures must have been higher

Scientists are currently discussing the use of preserved genetic materials to create living mammoth specimens. A Harvard university team is already attempting inserting some mammoth gene (from frozen mammoth bodies) into modern elephant. If it is possible for them to combine the DNA with elephant cells (3, 4) and the cells become viable, they might be able to create a viable mammoth hybrid embryo by inseminating an elephant egg invitro....all this genetics and biotech stuff!  

Photo : Columbian Mammoth in the page museum Los Angeles
(Photos courtesy of Wikipedia.org)

REFERENCES

1.        “The woolly mammoth  (Mammuthus primigenius)” The academy of natural sciences of Drexel university. Retrieved 2015-05-20

2.      Dale Guthrie R. (2004). Radiocarbon evidence of mid-Holocene mammoths stranded on an Alaskan berring sea Island”. Nature 429 (6993): 746- 747

3.      “Mammoth back from the dead” National geographic channel

4.      “The plan to turn elephants into woolly mammoths is already  underway”. 21^st may 2014