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{{otheruses4|the prehistoric elephant-like animal. For the heavy metal band, see [[Mastodon (band)]]}} |
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{{Taxobox |
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| name = Mastodon |
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| status = Prehistoric |
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| image = ROM - American Mastodon.jpg |
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| image_width = 200px |
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| image_caption = Mounted ''Mammut americanum'' skeleton. |
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| regnum = [[Animal]]ia |
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| phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]] |
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| classis = [[Mammal]]ia |
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| ordo = [[Proboscidea]] |
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| familia = '''Mammutidae''' |
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| familia_authority = [[William Perry Hay|Hay]], 1922 |
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| genus = '''''Mammut''''' |
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|subdivision_ranks = Species |
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|subdivision = |
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* ''[[Mammut americanum]]'' |
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* ''[[Mammut borsoni]]'' |
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}} |
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'''Mastodons''' or '''Mastodonts''' (from [[Greek language|Greek]] ''μαστός'' and ''οδούς'', meaning "[[nipple]] tooth") are members of the [[extinction|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 [[Elephant]]idae. Mastodons were [[herbivore|browser]]s, while mammoths were [[Grazing|grazer]]s. |
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==Habitat== |
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[[Image:Lubbocklakelandmark1.jpg|thumb|left|Bronze mastodon statues at [[Lubbock Lake Landmark]].]] |
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Mastodons are thought to have first appeared almost four million years ago. They were native to both Eurasia and North America but died out in Eurasia approximately three million years ago - fossils having been found in [[England]], [[Germany]], the [[Netherlands]] and northern [[Greece]]. They disappeared from North America about 10,000 years ago,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6913366.stm|publisher=BBC News|title=Greek mastodon find 'spectacular'|date=24 July 2007|accessdate=2007-07-24}}</ref> at the same time as most other [[Pleistocene megafauna]]. |
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Though their habitat spanned a large territory, mastodons were most common in the [[glaciation|ice age]] [[spruce]] forests of the eastern United States, as well as in warmer lowland environments.<ref>Björn Kurtén and Elaine Anderson, ''Pleistocene Mammals of North America,'' (New York: Columbia UP, 1980), p. 344.</ref> Their remains have been found as far as 300 [[kilometer]]s offshore of the northeastern United States, in areas that were dry land during the low [[sea level]] stand of the last ice age.<ref>Kurtén and Anderson, p. 344.</ref> Mastodon fossils have been found in South America; on the Olympic Peninsula of [[Washington state]], USA;<ref>Kirk and Daugherty, ''Archaeology in Washington'', forthcoming from University of Washington Press, April 2007.</ref> in [[Kentucky]] (particularly noteworthy are early finds in what is now [[Big Bone Lick State Park]]); in Stewiacke, [[Nova Scotia]], [[Canada]]; in Richland County, Wisconsin; La Grange, Texas; and north of [[Fort Wayne]], [[Indiana]], USA. |
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==Description== |
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[[Image:High res mastodon rendering.jpg|thumb|193px|right|Life restoration of ''Mammut americanum''.]] |
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While mastodons were furry like [[woolly mammoth]]s 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 [[Molar (tooth)|molar]]s,<ref>[http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/larson/mammut.html Mastodons<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> 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]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Agusti, Jordi & Anton, Mauricio |year=2002 |title= Mammoths, Sabretooths, and Hominids|publisher= Columbia University Press|location=New York|pages= 106|isbn= 0-231-11640-3}}</ref> Their skulls were larger and flatter than those of mammoths, while their skeleton was stockier and more robust.<ref name="p345">Kurtén and Anderson, p. 345</ref> Mastodons also seem to have lacked the undercoat characteristic of mammoths.<ref name="p345"/> |
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The [[tusk]]s of the mastodon sometimes exceeded five meters in length and were nearly horizontal, in contrast with the more curved mammoth tusks.<ref name="p345"/> Young males had [[vestigial]] lower tusks that were lost in adulthood.<ref name="p345"/> 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]].<ref name="p345"/> 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.<ref>{{cite conference | author=Fisher, D | title=Tusk cementum defects record musth battles in American mastodons | booktitle=Sixty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology | year=Oct. 18-21, 2006}}</ref> |
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==Extinction== |
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[[Image:La Brea Tar Pits Mastadons.jpg|thumb|left|Mastodon in tar pit.]] |
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The Mastodon has long been thought as a source of food for early humans. Paleontologists are still trying to determine what role, if any, the early human settlers of North America played in the [[extinction]] of the mastodon. |
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Recent studies by scientists in Ohio and New York concluded that [[tuberculosis]] may have been partly responsible for the extinction of the mastodon 10,000 years ago.<ref>[http://www.valuemd.com/relaxing-lounge/121719-now-interesting-tb-vs-mastodons.html now this is interesting - TB vs. Mastodons. - ValueMD Medical Schools Forum<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> |
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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 high x 5 feet 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.<ref>{{cite news |last=Flesher |first=John |title=Possible mastodon carving found on rock |publisher=Associated Press |date=[[2007-09-04]] |url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070904/ap_on_sc/mastodon_carving |accessdate =2007-09-05}}</ref> |
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{{-}} |
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==Current excavations== |
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[[Image:C W Peale - The Exhumation of the Mastadon.jpeg|thumb|right|''The Exhumation of the Mastodon'' by [[Charles Willson Peale|Peale]]]] |
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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 Tonowanda, 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. |
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==See also== |
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*[[Island 35 Mastodon]] |
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*[[List of museums and colleges with mastodon fossils on display]] |
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==References== |
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{{reflist}} |
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==External links== |
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*http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/larson/mammut.html |
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*http://www.calvin.edu/academic/geology/mastodon/calvin_c.htm |
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*http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/expeditions/treasure_fossil/Treasures/Warren_Mastodon/warren.html?acts |
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*http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/3004.shtml |
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*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6913366.stm Greek Mastadon find 'spectacular' (BBC)] |
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*http://www.priweb.org/mastodon/mastodon_home.html |
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*http://www.mostateparks.com/mastodon.htm |
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*http://www.slfp.com/Mastodon.htm |
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*http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/exhibits |
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[[Category:Mastodons| ]] |
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[[Category:Pleistocene mammals]] |
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[[Category:Pleistocene extinctions]] |
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[[br:Mastodont]] |
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[[da:Mastodont]] |
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[[de:Mastodonten]] |
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[[el:Μαστόδοντας]] |
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[[es:Mammutidae]] |
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[[fr:Mastodonte]] |
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[[it:Mammut (genere)]] |
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[[he:מסטודון]] |
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[[hu:Masztodonfélék]] |
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[[nl:Mastodont]] |
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[[pl:Mastodonty]] |
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[[pt:Mastodonte]] |
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[[ru:Мастодонты]] |
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[[sk:Mastodont]] |
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[[fi:Mastodontit]] |
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[[sv:Mastodont]] |
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[[vi:Voi răng mấu]] |
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[[tr:Mastudon]] |
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[[zh:乳齒象]] |
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Revision as of 16:19, 15 April 2008
MASTADONS IZ BIG