Mammuthus primigenius – facts about the Woolly Mammoth

Artist's impression of a Woolly Mammoth

The ‘Woolly’ mammoth is the best known of all the mammoth species of which science is aware. Found in rock and ice deposits which formed up to 150,000 years ago, woolly mammoths are thought to have become extinct in Europe and North America towards the end of the Pleistocene period, though a smaller dwarve sub-species is thought to have survived in localised populations until around 1,700 BC.

Woolly mammoth fossils are almost uniquely valuable to researchers of extinct mammal species due to the cold climates in which the creatures once lived. Mammoth remains are often found frozen with organic matter still intact, making them something apart from true ‘fossils’ in which the organic matter is transformed into stone. Growing up to 4m tall, woolly mammoths were large and very heavy, weighing up to 9 tonnes.

Woolly mammoth cave painting

Humans and mammoths cohabited in Europe for thousands of years, before becoming extinct around 8,000 years BCE. A warming climate saw the range of the mammoths’ habitat shrink as their natural predisposition to colder climates pushed them into smaller and smaller areas of frozen land. This, combined with probably pressures from humans hunting these huge animals for both meat and other resources such as fat, clothing and ivory drove these huge beasts to extinction.

The woolly mammoth’s most recognisable feature is probably its long shaggy coat. The creatures were ‘double-coated’, like many modern day cold weather animals such as musk-ox. The outer coat consisted of long coarse ‘guard’ hairs. Beneath this was a shorter, soft and downy coat of wool which kept the animal amazingly warm. This quality gives the Mammuthus primigenius it’s common ‘woolly’ mammoth name.

Our woolly mammoth t-shirt takes a look at these fascinating creatures through modern day eyes, where the only chance of seeing a ‘woolly’ mammoth is to knit one yourself. Here the mammoth re-constructs its own knitting out of a ball of yarn, using its knitting needle tusks to cast on a few stitches. Maybe it is knitting itself a mate?

Woolly Mammoth t-shirt