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Massive Columbian Mammoth on Display at the Nevada State Museum
>> YOUR LINK HERE: ___ http://youtube.com/watch?v=AOfHJLrtVPw
If only they roamed the Southwest today! • #Mammuthus columbi, aka the Columbian #Mammoth, exceeded the weight of some (albeit small :-)) #sauropods, eclipsing 11 tons in a roughly 13’ tall, 15’ long body. • This specimen, the Huntington Mammoth, was found at an astounding elevation of 9,000’ in Utah, and might have #Arctodus, the gigantic running bear, bite marks on it! • It lacked the long, shaggy hair of a #woollymammoth, instead resembling a modern #elephant with short, grey hair. How do we know this? Happily, we have accumulated a staggering amount of info on these beasts, hair, stomach contents (maple, oak, grasses, and a few other bits and pieces), and DNA! • This individual is on the high side for known sizes and ages. Believed to have hit 65 years old, its teeth are worn nearly flat. Extremely old elephants die of starvation as their teeth grind down and are no longer replaced (they get 6 sets of 4 teeth...). Interesting how they are done in by their own biology, otherwise they’d probably keep munching away for many more years. • In their prime they eat upwards of 700 lbs of plants a day! Think about that salad you tried eating to lose weight. Ponder how light that salad was despite overflowing the bowl with weight loss resolve! Now imagine how many leaves have to be consumed to reach 700 lbs. My teeth and jaws ache thinking about all of that chewing. #Elephants chew-chew-ka-chew their entire lives, grinding up plants with their massive teeth. And these plants aren’t pre-washed, plenty of sandy bits to wear away the enamel. No wonder their trunks are so strong, they get plenty of exercise bringing plant matter to the mouth all day. • Humans butchered (or scavenged, there is debate whether they actively hunted them or took advantage of a carcass) elephants and, as one hypothesis goes, hunted them to #extinction. Where have we seen that before... • At the Nevada State Museum. Apologies for the failed audio experiment! • #FossilCrates
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