mammoth: Quick Facts

Written and fact-checked by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Also Known As	Mammuthus

Photos and Videos

Replica of a woolly mammoth with long curved tusks and shaggy fur on display in a museum exhibit, set against a dramatic painted landscape backdrop.

A timeline diagram shows the evolutionary history of modern elephants, depicting Gomphotherium as an ancient ancestor branching into the woolly mammoth, American mastodon, Asian elephant, African savanna elephant, and African forest elephant, with illustrations of each species and labeled time periods from the Eocene to the present.

Will cloning bring the woolly mammoth back to life?

See All Videos and Images →

Topics

woolly mammoth imperial mammoth How big was the woolly mammoth?Pleistocene Epoch Holocene Epoch extinction hump elephant fossil gomphothere basilosaurid Simocetus Llanocetus denticrenatus sabre-toothed cat Phoberomys cave bear dire wolf Enaliarctos woolly rhinoceros

Lion (panthera leo)

Deadliest Animals Quiz

Sea otter (Enhydra lutris), also called great sea otter, rare, completely marine otter of the northern Pacific, usually found in kelp beds. Floats on back. Looks like sea otter laughing. saltwater otters

Animal Group Names

The bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) is seen in Switzerland on December 2024

Animal Factoids

Mute swan with cygnet. (birds)

Match the Baby Animal to Its Mama Quiz