Ceuk Kang Wiki:
This article is about the prehistoric elephant-like animal. For the
heavy metal band, see Mastodon (band). For other uses, see Mastodon
(disambiguation).
Mastodon
Fossil range: 40 Ma
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Pliocene Recent
Mounted mastodon skeleton, Museum of the Earth .
Mounted mastodon skeleton, Museum of the Earth .
Conservation status
Prehistoric
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidea
Family: Mammutidae
Hay, 1922
Genus: Mammut
Blumenbach, 1799
Species
* Mammut americanum
* Mammut borsoni
Mastodons or Mastodonts (from Greek μαστός and
οδούς, meaning "nipple
tooth") are members of the extinct genus Mammut of the order
Proboscidea and form the family Mammutidae; they resembled, but were
distinct from, the woolly mammoth, which belongs to the family
Elephantidae. Mastodons were browsers, while mammoths were grazers.
Contents
* 1 Habitat
* 2 Description
* 3 Extinction
* 4 Current excavations
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 External links
[edit] Habitat
A mastodon.
Mastodons are thought to have first appeared almost four million years
ago. They were native to both Eurasia and North America but the
Eurasian species Mammut borsoni died out approximately three million
years ago - fossils having been found in England, Germany, the
Netherlands, Romania[1] and northern Greece. Mammut americanum is
generally reported as having disappeared from North America about
10,000 years ago,[2] at the same time as most other Pleistocene
megafauna. However more recent radiocarbon dates have been found, such
as 5,200 B.C. in Seneca Michigan,[3] 5,140 B.C. in Utah,[4] 4,150 in
Washtenaw Michigan,[5] 4,080 B.C. in Lapeer Michigan,[6]. It is known
from fossils found ranging from present-day Alaska and New England in
the north, to Florida, southern California, Mexico, and as far south
as Honduras.[7]
Though their habitat spanned a large territory, mastodons were most
common in the ice age spruce forests of the eastern United States, as
well as in warmer lowland environments.[8] Their remains have been
found as far as 300 kilometers offshore of the northeastern United
States, in areas that were dry land during the low sea level stand of
the last ice age.[9] Mastodon fossils have been found on the Olympic
Peninsula of Washington State, USA (Manis Mastodon Site),[10] in
Kentucky (particularly noteworthy are early finds in what is now Big
Bone Lick State Park); the Kimmswick Bone Bed in Missouri; in
Stewiacke, Nova Scotia, Canada; at a number of sites in New York
State[11];in Richland County, Wisconsin; La Grange, Texas; Southern
Louisiana; north of Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Johnstown, Ohio[12] USA.
[edit] Description
Life restoration of Mammut americanum.
While mastodons were furry like woolly mammoths and similar in height
at roughly three meters at the shoulder, the resemblance was
superficial. They differed from mammoths primarily in the blunt,
conical, nipple-like projections on the crowns of their molars,[13]
which were more suited to chewing leaves than the high-crowned teeth
mammoths used for grazing; the name mastodon (or mastodont) means
"nipple teeth" and is also an obsolete name for their genus.[14] Their
skulls were larger and flatter than those of mammoths, while their
skeleton was stockier and more robust.[15] Mastodons also seem to have
lacked the undercoat characteristic of mammoths.[15]
The tusks of the mastodon sometimes exceeded five meters in length and
were nearly horizontal, in contrast with the more curved mammoth
tusks.[15] Young males had vestigial lower tusks that were lost in
adulthood.[15] However, it has been proven that female mastodons had
lower pairs of tusks. The tusks were probably used to break branches
and twigs, although some evidence suggests males may have used them in
mating challenges; one tusk is often shorter than the other,
suggesting that, like humans and modern elephants, mastodons may have
had laterality.[15] Examination of fossilized tusks revealed a series
of regularly spaced shallow pits on the underside of the tusks.
Microscopic examination showed damage to the dentin under the pits. It
is theorized that the damage was caused when the males were fighting
over mating rights. The curved shape of the tusks would have forced
them downward with each blow, causing damage to the newly forming
ivory at the base of the tusk. The regularity of the damage in the
growth patterns of the tusks indicates that this was an annual
occurrence, probably occurring during the spring and early summer.[16]
[edit] Extinction
Mastodon skeleton
Recent studies indicate that tuberculosis may have been partly
responsible for the extinction of the mastodon 10,000 years ago.[17]
Another influencing factor to their eventual extinction in America
during the late Pleistocene may have been the presence of
Paleo-Indians, who entered the American continent in relatively large
numbers 13,000 years ago. Their hunting caused a gradual attrition to
the mastodon and mammoth populations, significant enough that over
time the mastodons were hunted to extinction.[18]
In September 2007, Mark Holley, an underwater archeologist with the
Grand Traverse Bay Underwater Preserve Council who teaches at
Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City, Michigan, said that
they might have discovered a boulder (3.5 to 4 feet (1.2 m) high x 5
feet (1.5 m) long) with a prehistoric carving in the Grand Traverse
Bay of Lake Michigan. The granite rock has markings that resemble a
mastodon with a spear in its side. Confirmation that the markings are
an ancient petroglyph will require more evidence.[19]
[edit] Current excavations
The Exhumation of the Mastodon by Peale
Current excavations are going on annually at the Hiscock site in
Byron, New York, for mastodon and related paleo-Indian artifacts. The
site was discovered in 1959 by the Hiscock family while digging a pond
with a backhoe; they found a large tusk and stopped digging. The
Buffalo Museum of Science has organized the dig since 1983. It has
been called one of the richest sites available for mastodon-related
artifacts. The site sits on swampland that was covered by Lake
Tonawanda, which was a glacier runoff lake formed over 10,000 years
ago. It has been confirmed that mastodons would flock there to eat the
sodium-rich clay during one of the last great droughts of the Paleolithic.
In August 2008, miners in Romania have unearthed the skeleton of a 2.5
million-year-old mastodon, believed to be one of the best preserved in
Europe[20]. Ninety percent of the skeleton's bones were intact, with
damage to the skull and tusks[20].
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastodon
