Steppe mammoth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 Mammuthus trogonotherii and Elephas namadicus
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Extinct (fossil)
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| Mammuthus trogontherii |
The steppe mammoth is an extinct species of elephant that ranged over most of northern Eurasia during the Ice Ages of the Pleistocene.
Along with Mammuthus meridionalis and Deinotherium, the steppe mammoth among the largest proboscideans to have ever lived, standing up to 4.50 m (15 ft) tall. Its spiral-shaped tusks could be as long as 5.20 m (18 ft) in old bulls.
The most complete skeleton of a steppe mammoth was discovered in 1996 in Kikinda, Serbia. Recently, it has been mounted and presented, due to support of the EU-project. The specimen is a female, standing 4.7m tall at the shoulder, with 3.5m long tusks, and an estimating weight of about 7 tons, which suggests even greater dimensions of males of the time in the same area. Therefore, it seems that M. trogontherii is not only the biggest species of the genus Mammuthus, but is possibly among the biggest species in the entire order Proboscidea, rivaling in size not only Elephas recki and the Straight-tusked elephant Palaeoloxodon, but even Deinotherium itself.
[edit] External Link
Kikinda Museum [1]
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