Columbian Mammoth Info

Five things you might not know about ...
By Liliana Castillo: Freedom New Mexico
November 21, 2008 - 9:26PM


Scientists are a decade or two away from recreating the extinct woolly
mammoth, according to a Pennsylvania State University researcher. The
Colombian mammoth, the southern cousin of the woolly mammoth, roamed
the eastern New Mexico plains up to 10,000 years ago.


Matt Hillsman, the curator of Eastern New Mexico University’s
Blackwater Draw Museum, said remains of the Colombian mammoth were
found at the Black Water Draw dig site.
• Hillsman said spearheads, called Clovis points, found with the
skeletal remains at the Blackwater Draw dig site confirm that the
Colombian mammoth was hunted by people who came to the plains about
11,000 to 13,000 years ago. The mammoth, which was hunted to
extinction in this area, was attacked while in drinking and bathing in
water.


• No one knows why mammoths are extinct. Hillsman said there are
several theories. But new research shows that there is evidence of
inbreeding in the mammoths DNA. Inbreeding limits genetic diversity,
Hillsman said.


• Two million years ago, mammoths separated into two groups and became
genetically distinct. One group went extinct 45,000 years ago. The
other group, which the Colombian mammoth was part of, went extinct
10,000 years ago.


• The largest of the mammoth species and also one of the largest
elephants to have ever lived, Colombian mammoths could consumed an
average of 300 pounds of a vegetation a day


• The Colombian mammoth migrated to the eastern plains because the
area was much cooler and wetter 10,000 years ago. Hillsman said there
was plentiful amounts of food and clean water for the mammoths.


Fast Facts


• Colombian mammoths had short gray hair similar to a modern elephant.


• They weighed up to nine tons and had tusks up to 16 feet long.


• The stood about 14-feet tall at the shoulders and were larger than
the woolly mammoth


• They ranged through the southern half of North American and south
into Mexico.


• They were herbivores, eating mainly grasses and other low growing
plants.


• Females lived in herds containing two to 20 individuals. Males left
the heard when they reached 12 to 15 years of age.


Source: www.bbc.co.uk


Matt Hillsman, the curator of Eastern New Mexico University’s
Blackwater Draw Museum, said he isn’t sure if recreating the mammoth
is a good idea, or if the animal would survive long.


“There are big questions ethically about resurrecting the mammoth,” he
said. “The ethical problem is would it survive?”


One difference he noted is the climate is much different than 10,000
years ago.


“We could recreate it, but I would hate to see them put it in the
zoo,” he said. “We’re in a time now where the climate is changing. It
was much colder when they lived.”


“But it would be exciting to see something that existed 10,000 years
ago.”


Hillsman studied archeology and anthropology to gain his master’s
degree at Eastern New Mexico University. Prior to that, he studied for
his undergraduate degree at Pennsylvania State University, where the
research mapping the mammoth’s DNA is taking place.


“It’s exciting that this kind of research is happening at my alma
mater,” he said.

Columbian Mammoth Info