Woolly Mammoths

Woolly mammoths are extinct relatives of today’s elephants. They were alive 2 million years ago during the last ice age, and they died when the weather was warmer. The woolly mammoth lived on the “mammoth steppe”. This was an area covering most of Europe, Asia, and the northern part of North America.

The word “mammoth” means “huge,” but woolly mammoths were about the size of African elephants. Woolly mammoths could survive the cold temperatures of the ice age because they had fur. Their tusks were 5 metres long and were used for fighting and digging in the deep snow for food. Mammoths were herbivores and ate grass and other types of plants and flowers.

How do we know there were mammoths in the past? Woolly mammoths lived together with humans 30,000 to 40,000 years ago and archaeologists found bones and cave drawings of mammoths. The early humans were hunters and could use the mammoth for many things. There is one thing we don’t know. Did early humans eat woolly mammoth meat? What do you think?