Steppe mammoth

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Steppe mammoth
Fossil range: Mid Pleistocene

Mammuthus trogonotherii and Elephas namadicus

Prehistoric

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Proboscidea
Family:	Elephantidae
Genus:	Mammuthus
Species:	M. trogontherii

Binomial name

Mammuthus trogontherii

The steppe mammoth, Mammuthus trogontherii, is an extinct species of elephant, that ranged over most of northern Eurasia during the Middle Pleistocene, 600,000-370,000 years ago.

The steppe mammoth probably evolved in Siberia during the early Pleistocene from Mammuthus meridionalis, which was replaced during the middle Pleistocene about 750.000 - 500.000 years ago. It was the first stage in the evolution of the steppe and tundra elephants and an ancestor of the woolly mammoth of the later glacial periods. Standing up to 4.70 m (15 ft) tall at the shoulder, it is among the largest probiscideans to have ever lived, along with Mammuthus sungari and Deinotherium. Its spiral-shaped tusks could be as long as 5.20 m (17 ft) in old bulls. About 250.000 years ago, the woolly mammoth appeared in Europe, which derived in northern Asia from the steppe mammoth and replaced its progenitor completely.

Its skull was shorter than that of the great southern elephant. The males had spiral tusks with a recurved tip, while the females had thinner and only slightly curved tusks. The tusks grew to considerable lengths and the largest one known must have measured about 5 m. on a living animal.

The most complete skeleton of a steppe mammoth yet found was discovered in 1996 in Kikinda, Serbia. It has recently been mounted and put on display. The specimen is a female, which was about 4.7 m (15½ ft) high, with 3.5 m (11½ ft) long tusks, and would have weighed an estimated 7 tons when alive. This suggests even greater dimensions for males from the same area. It therefore seems that M. trogontherii is not only the biggest species of the genus Mammuthus, but is possibly among the biggest species in the order Proboscidea, rivaling in size not only Elephas recki and the Straight-tusked elephant Palaeoloxodon but, perhaps, even Deinotherium itself.

[edit] Literature

Benes, Josef: Prehistoric Animals and Plants, Pg. 271. Prague, Artua: 1979.
Jordi Augusti and Mauricio Anton: Mammoths, Sabertooths and Hominids 65 Million Years of Mammalian Evolution in Europe, Columbia University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-231-11640-3
Lister, Adrian und Bahn, Paul: Mammuts - Riesen der Eiszeit, Thorbecke Verlag, Sigmaringen 1997. ISBN 3-7995-9050-1