Fossil Mammoth Tooth with Stand
We offer this well preserved Mammoth tooth, displaying excellent preservation, color permineralization, enamel luster, and root extensions. The specimen was found inside the jaw of a large mammoth. That doesn't necessarily mean that it wasn't a spit tooth, but we're leaning towards that being the case, due to its size. The tooth was cured then given a very slight PVA sealant for long term preservation, (which in our opinion really enhances it aesthetically). It's an excellent specimen, nicely presented on a custom made stand of metal and oak.
Dimensions: ~ 10-1/2" long x 11" tall x 4-1/2" wide
Location: Germany
Time Period: Pleistocene / ~ 30,000 year old
Mammoths existed during the Pliocene period, some 4.8 million years ago. However, the earliest Woolly Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) was discovered in Eurasia, with its remains dating back only 150,000 years ago. Most Woolly Mammoths disappeared between 10-12,000 years ago with a few notable exceptions. Mammoth remains were discovered on St. Paul's Island off the coast of Alaska, dating around 6,000 years old, and on Wrangel Island north of Siberia, where a Mammoth survived until possibly 3,700 years ago.
Mammoths had a thick layer of fat and long hair which was up to a meter in length, which kept them well-insulated during the ice age time period they lived in. Although most hair remains are orange in color, the Woolly Mammoths hair was actually black, only turning orange due to mineral absorption.
The Woolly Mammoth actually wasn't the largest Mammoth, that title belonged to the Imperial Mammoth. Woolly Mammoths stood around 10-12 feet high and were similar in overall size to today's Indian elephant, with the DNA of an extinct Woolly mammoth matching 95% to that of an Indian elephant. The Woolly Mammoth's trunk and ears were smaller than an elephant, but its tusks were considerably longer, the longest discovered tusk measuring over 16 feet long! As Mammoths were herbivores, they used their long tusks for both scraping off ice and snow that covered vegetation and for defending themselves.
It is thought the warming of the last Ice Age combined with over hunting by humans were the main causes for Woolly Mammoth's extinction. There are ongoing attempts to clone the Woolly Mammoth.