Fact-check log

Woolly mammoths roamed parts of Earth’s northern hemisphere for at least half a million years. Natural History Museum

They were still in their heyday 20,000 years ago but within 10,000 years they were reduced to isolated populations off the coasts of Siberia and Alaska. Natural History Museum

By 4,000 years ago they were gone. Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum’s mammoth expert Professor Adrian Lister talks through research findings and the warning they sound for the future of mammoths’ living relatives, African and Asian elephants. Natural History Museum

The woolly mammoth, the Natural History Museum says, is an ice age icon, but it was only the very last chapter in a six-million-year-long story. Natural History Museum

Mammoths don’t just look like elephants — they were elephants. Modern elephants and mammoths both belong to the elephant family, Elephantidae. Prehistoric mammoths didn’t evolve into modern-day elephants; they are cousins. Natural History Museum

Elephantidae arose in Africa about seven million years ago and quickly split into three branches. One led to modern African elephants, another to Asian elephants and the third split off and became mammoths — the genus Mammuthus. Natural History Museum

Asian elephants are mammoths’ closest relatives. Natural History Museum

If you look at the woolly mammoth, Professor Adrian Lister says, it has a lot of hair and a sloping back, very high at the shoulder, sloping down towards the tail end, which is quite different from modern elephants. Natural History Museum

Mammoth tusks, Lister says, are not just curved: they are actually in a spiral shape — they curve in two dimensions. In living elephants, they just gently curve in one dimension. Natural History Museum

Woolly mammoths also had very small ears and a shorter tail than their living cousins. Natural History Museum

Scientists now think mammoths’ hair was a deeper chocolate-brown colour than some museum reconstructions have shown. Natural History Museum

Mammuthus subplanifrons is the oldest mammoth found so far. It lived about five million years ago. Fossils of its teeth have been found in South Africa. Natural History Museum

There was a pivotal moment about 3.5 million years ago when mammoths broke out of Africa, moved through the Middle East and spread rapidly across Eurasia. Mammuthus rumanus is the first mammoth found outside of Africa. Natural History Museum

About two million years ago, Lister says, a species called Mammuthus meridionalis appears. It survived for about a million years, and there are very abundant fossils all the way from Britain to China. It is also known as the southern or ancestral mammoth. Natural History Museum

Micro-wear patterns on their teeth show that southern mammoths were mostly browsers, eating from shrubs and trees. Steppe mammoths’ teeth, on the other hand, indicate they were mostly grazing on grass. Natural History Museum

Oceans now entirely separate Eurasia and North America, but in the time of mammoths a strip of land connected the eastern tip of Russia to western Alaska: the Bering land bridge. Steppe mammoths crossed this into North America about 1.5 million years ago. Natural History Museum

Woolly mammoths, Mammuthus primigenius, evolved about 800,000-600,000 years ago in northeast Siberia. Scientists think a population of steppe mammoths that were well-adapted to the incredibly harsh conditions evolved into the woolly mammoth, which then spread west across Eurasia and east into North America. Natural History Museum

Artwork of woolly mammoths sometimes places them against stark, snowy backdrops. But while they were adapted to cold conditions, they were living in richly vegetated landscapes, mostly away from deep snow cover. Natural History Museum

Columbian mammoths, Mammuthus columbi, lived in North America, from southern Canada down to Costa Rica. Natural History Museum

The shape of Columbian mammoth teeth indicates they are descendants of steppe mammoths. DNA, however, tells a slightly different story: a study of 13,000-year-old fossils showed that Columbian mammoths were a hybrid species, with half steppe mammoth DNA and half early woolly mammoth DNA, stemming from a hybridisation event 400,000 years ago. Natural History Museum

The earliest fossil evidence of woolly mammoths in North America is only 200,000 years old. Another curiosity is that Columbian mammoths’ teeth look the same before and after this particular hybridisation event. This is a puzzle that scientists such as Lister are still trying to unpick. Natural History Museum

In total, there were around 10 species of mammoth that roamed the planet long before the iconic ice age woolly mammoth. Natural History Museum

The only ones where we have preserved woolly mammoth soft tissue, Lister says, are from Siberia and Alaska. There is also a small amount of soft tissue from a Columbian mammoth: it has a somewhat hairy coat, but we can’t really say how much. Natural History Museum

In 2021, Lister collaborated with a team who extracted and sequenced DNA from a 700,000-year-old woolly mammoth tooth and a 1.2 million-year-old steppe mammoth tooth. They found that genes that could help an animal survive in the Arctic Circle — such as those coded for long hair, fatty deposits and a tolerance to cold — were present in the older steppe mammoth DNA. Natural History Museum

The first species where we find fossils in the Arctic Circle, Lister says, is the steppe mammoth. By then the climate had deteriorated significantly and there was extensive tundra. With the DNA, steppe mammoths were already quite cold adapted in their physiology. Then woolly mammoths pushed it to an extreme. Natural History Museum

Fossils of southern mammoths, steppe mammoths and woolly mammoths have all been found in Britain. Natural History Museum

The Ilford mammoth skull, which belongs to a steppe mammoth, is the largest and most complete of its kind ever found in Britain. It was discovered by workers in Ilford in East London in 1864 who were digging for clay to make bricks. Lister says the sample is kind of an intermediate stage between the steppe mammoth and the woolly mammoth, about 200,000 years old. Natural History Museum

The woolly mammoth, Lister says, despite what people think, was about halfway between the modern Asian and African elephants: 3-3.5 metres at shoulder height and about four to five or six tonnes in body weight, depending on whether it is a male or female. Natural History Museum

Southern and steppe mammoths, the Museum says, weighed some 10 tonnes, making them heavier than any land animal alive today. They were also up to four metres tall. Natural History Museum

Some very small mammoths have also been found, such as the 1.7-metre-tall Californian pygmy mammoth, Mammuthus exilis, and the 1.5-metre-tall dwarfed Sardinian mammoth, Mammuthus lamarmorai. These have experienced insular dwarfism, where species shrink due to living on isolated islands with limited resources and few large predators. Natural History Museum

Scientists have been debating mammoth extinction, Lister says, with two main suspects. There is an ongoing argument among researchers as to the relative contribution of climate change and vegetation change on one hand, and human hunting on the other. Natural History Museum

Towards the end of the Pleistocene, as Earth crept out of the last ice age, the mammoths’ open habitat started shrinking and being replaced by forest and tundra. In line with that change, the fossil record shows mammoth populations shrinking and contracting. Natural History Museum

Some people would argue that that happened cyclically, Lister notes, because there were many ice age climate cycles. Woolly mammoths were squeezed into smaller favourable areas, known as refugia, in warm periods, then bounced back as the climate cooled. So why, he asks, did they only go extinct the last time around? Natural History Museum

Mammoths were important to our ancestors for food, as well as for their bones, ivory and skins. They feature in cave art, such as the 158 mammoths depicted on the walls of Rouffignac Cave in south-west France, by people 13,000 years ago. Natural History Museum

We have evidence they were occasionally hunted, Lister says: there are a few mammoth fossils with broken ends of spear points in them. But that does not mean they were hunted to extinction. Natural History Museum

Lister thinks it may be a combination of the two. He thinks the data better fits the climate model as the main driver, but we can’t rule out that humans contributed. Natural History Museum

We last see Columbian mammoths in the fossil record about 12,000 years ago, indicating they may have gone extinct alongside lots of other large Pleistocene mammals. Natural History Museum

Woolly mammoths died out on the mainland a little later, around 10,500 years ago. But populations survived on the islands left behind after the Bering land bridge was swallowed by the sea. Natural History Museum

On Alaska’s St Paul Island, they lasted until 5,600 years ago and, further north, on Wrangel Island until 4,000 years ago. Natural History Museum

Humans didn’t get there until very late, Lister says. We are almost 100% certain that there were no people on St Paul until the eighteenth century or so. Five and a half thousand years ago, there were drought conditions and limited freshwater, and that’s probably what drove them extinct. Natural History Museum

On Wrangel, the first signs of humans on the island come only a few hundred years after the last mammoth fossils. There is a question of whether the mammoth population was hunted to extinction or was already gone by the time people got there. There is evidence of people hunting marine mammals like seals, but no evidence they were hunting mammoths. Natural History Museum

The Museum also has not identified any significant environmental change on Wrangel about 4,000 years ago. There’s nothing obvious in climate or vegetation. It is possible that genetic mutations in this small and isolated population may have led to poor health and ultimately extinction. Natural History Museum

The mammoth’s ancestors arose in Africa, and were tropically-adapted browsing animals closely related to the living elephants. Around 3 million years ago, they spread into the northern hemisphere and began a process of transformation leading to the highly-specialised woolly mammoth of the late ice age, adapted to cold, treeless environments and a diet of grass. Natural History Museum

Museum researchers have traced this process in most detail using fossilised molar teeth, finding an increase in crown height and in the number of enamel grinding ridges — an increasing adaptation to a tougher diet. Natural History Museum

In particular, it appears that the first major step in the origin of the woolly mammoth occurred in China as much as 2 million years ago, while the final changes took place in north-east Siberia about a million years later. In both cases it is plausible that the changes were driven by known changes in climate and vegetation. Natural History Museum

The Museum has also shown how the North American or Columbian mammoth arose from relatively advanced Eurasian mammoths that dispersed across the Bering land bridge some 1.5 million years ago. Natural History Museum

Researchers have mapped the reduction in genetic diversity that led up to the mammoth’s extinction, which may have contributed to its ultimate demise. They have also shown how one genetic group, originating in North America, spread over a period of 40,000 years of the last ice age to replace populations in Siberia and ultimately Europe. Natural History Museum

A woolly mammoth, in Britannica wording, is an extinct species of elephant, Mammuthus primigenius, found in fossil deposits of the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs (from about 2.6 million years ago to the present) in Europe, northern Asia, and North America. Britannica

The species is named for the appearance of its long thick coat of fur. Thriving during the Pleistocene ice ages, woolly mammoths died out after much of their habitat was lost as Earth’s climate warmed in the aftermath of the last ice age. Britannica

Woolly mammoths stood about 3 to 3.7 meters (about 10 to 12 feet) tall and weighed between 5,500 and 7,300 kg (between about 6 and 8 tons). Britannica

They had a yellowish brown undercoat about 2.5 cm (about 1 inch) thick beneath a coarser outer covering of dark brown hair that grew more than 70 cm (27.5 inches) long in some individuals. Under the extremely thick skin was a layer of insulating fat at times 8 cm (3 inches) thick. Britannica

Its skull was high and domelike, with large downward-directed curved tusks. The woolly mammoth’s ears were small, which exposed a smaller amount of surface area and was likely an adaptation to the cold climates in the Northern Hemisphere. A mound of fat, which served as an energy and water reserve, was present as a hump on the back. Britannica

The woolly mammoth’s teeth were made up of alternating plates of enamel and a denture that often became worn down by constant back-to-front chewing motions. Britannica

The woolly mammoth lived in steppe tundra habitat (also called mammoth steppe, an ecosystem made up of low shrubs, sedges, and grasses), which was widespread across Eurasia and North America during the Pleistocene, but there is some evidence that some populations also inhabited forests of the present-day Midwestern United States. Britannica

The woolly mammoth was herbivorous, consuming the stems and leaves of tundra plants and shrubs. Britannica

Mammoths are closely related to present-day Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), and these groups broke away from their last common ancestor about six million years ago. Britannica

Morphological and genetic studies suggest that woolly mammoths evolved from steppe mammoths (Mammuthus trogontherii) between about 800,000 and 600,000 years ago in Asia. Britannica

Genetic evidence suggests that woolly mammoths spread to Europe about 200,000 years ago and from Asia across the Bering Land Bridge to North America about 125,000 years ago. Britannica

Woolly mammoths were largely extinct by about 10,000 years ago, due to the pressures of a warming climate (which reduced the habitat of these cold-adapted mammals) combined with hunting by humans. Britannica

Scientific evidence suggests that small populations of woolly mammoths may have survived in mainland North America until between 10,500 and 7,600 years ago. Britannica

Other evidence suggests that woolly mammoths persisted until 5,600 years ago on St. Paul Island, Alaska, in the Bering Sea and as late as 4,300 years ago on Wrangel Island, an Arctic island located off the coast of northern Russia, before succumbing to extinction from inbreeding and loss of genetic diversity. Britannica

The relative abundance and, at times, excellent preservation of carcasses of this species found in the permafrost (permanently frozen ground) of Siberia have provided much information about mammoths’ structure and habits. These carcasses are so well preserved that sled dogs have been fed thawed woolly mammoth meat dating to more than 30,000 years ago, and fossil mammoth ivory was previously so abundant that it was exported from Siberia to China and Europe from medieval times. Britannica

These remains and fossils of teeth have allowed scientists to collect and sequence woolly mammoth DNA. Some have suggested that advances in genetics and reproductive cloning technologies since the 1990s could allow scientists to resurrect the woolly mammoth. The oldest preserved mammoth DNA, which also has the distinction of being the oldest known animal DNA, dates back to more than one million years ago and may belong to a direct ancestor of the woolly mammoth. Britannica

Lyuba, a well-preserved female woolly mammoth, was about one month old when it died in Siberia about 42,000 years ago. It was discovered in Russia in 2007, and has been displayed at the Field Museum, Chicago. Britannica

A mammoth, in Britannica wording, is any member of an extinct group of elephants (genus Mammuthus) found as fossils in Pleistocene deposits over every continent except Australia and South America and in early Holocene deposits of North America. Britannica

The Pleistocene Epoch began 2.6 million years ago and ended 11,700 years ago. The Holocene Epoch began 11,700 years ago and continues through the present. Britannica

Most mammoths were about as large as modern elephants. The North American imperial mammoth (M. imperator) attained a shoulder height of 4 metres (14 feet). At the other extreme were certain dwarfed forms whose ancestors became isolated on various islands. Britannica

Many mammoths had a woolly, yellowish brown undercoat about 2.5 cm (1 inch) thick beneath a coarser outer covering of dark brown hair up to 50 cm (20 inches) long. Britannica

A mound of fat was present as a hump on the back. This structure is lacking in fossil remains, but evidence for its presence comes from cave paintings. Britannica

The prominent tusks were directed downward and were very long; in older males they sometimes curved over each other. Britannica

Remains of arctic plants have been found in the digestive tracts of frozen mammoth carcasses. It is clear that the mammoth was hunted by early North American hunters. Britannica

Mammoths figured significantly in the art of primitive humans; cave dwellers in Europe realistically depicted herds of these animals. Britannica

An examination of a fossil tooth discovered in 2015 indicated that a tiny population of mammoths persisted on Wrangel Island, an Arctic island located off the coast of northern Russia, as late as 4,300 years ago before succumbing to extinction from the effects of inbreeding and the loss of genetic diversity. Britannica

The cause of extinction of the woolly mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius, is still debated, a 1993 Nature letter by Vartanyan, Garutt and Sher says. A major environmental change at the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary, hunting by early man, or both together are among the main explanations that have been suggested. Nature, 1993

But hardly anyone had doubted, that paper says, that mammoths had become extinct everywhere by around 9,500 years before present (BP). New discoveries on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean forced that view to be revised. Nature, 1993

Along with normal-sized mammoth fossils dating to the end of the Pleistocene, numerous teeth of dwarf mammoth dated 7,000-4,000 yr BP have been found there. The island is thought to have become separated from the mainland by 12,000 yr BP. Nature, 1993

Survival of a mammoth population may be explained, the authors say, by local topography and climatic features, which permitted relictual preservation of communities of steppe plants. They interpret the dwarfing of the Wrangel mammoths as a result of the insularity effect, combined with a response to the general trend towards unfavourable environment in the Holocene. Nature, 1993