Description

THIS PIECE ON LOAN FOR DISPLAY THROUGH AUGUST 2016

BABY MASTODON MOLAR

 Mammut americanum Pliocene – Pleistocene
1 1/8″ x 2 1/8″ $250  order e209
COMMENTS: one root there, one missing.
Enamel is perfect.  Upper right front.

Mammoth

The latest research indicates that the only two species of mammoth in Florida were the Mammuthus haroldcooki or early mammoth (also called Imperial Mammoth) and the later columbi. The widely known Woolly Mammoth is now thought to have ventured no farther south than present-day North Carolina. Also, some leading scientists now believe that some mammoths may have survived much later than previously thought, perhaps as recent as 4000 years ago.

MASTODON

Mastodons were in Florida almost twice as long as mammoths and so they are more commonly found as fossils. They were generally shorter, thicker and more heavily built than the mammoths. The males sometimes had two small lower tusks in addition to the large upper tusks. Both mastodons and mammoths were killed and eaten by early humans. Today, more and more scientists believe hunting them may have caused their extinction in America. Complete mastodon teeth are very hard to find today in Florida, but bits of the enamel are often found in rivers and springs.