JAX CURIOSITY SHOP:  MAMMOTHS & MASTODONS

(Source of picture:  From the wonderful website Florida Frontier Gazette.  Used with permission.) 

Isn't this picture marvelous?  It's the next best thing to taking a digital camera back in time.

OLD-FASHIONED JUMBOS -- Where JTA city buses now rumble from stop to stop, prehistoric pachyderms lumbered from watering hole to watering hole.  Parts of mammoths have been found in the Jacksonville area, such as at Talbot Island.  Mastodons also roamed the First Coast.

Mammoths grazed in fields & grasslands and in bordering pinelands & scrublands. These chunky beasts grew up to three times the size of modern elephants, and they could stand thirteen feet high at the shoulder.  Thick, brown hair covered their bodies, even their trunks.  Because of the heat, however, these ancient elephants were not nearly as hairy as their wooly kin in the north. 

LIGHTHEADED -- A mammoth's head was honeycombed with air pockets in order to lighten a heavy load.  By the way, bird bones also contain air spaces. A

TOOTH FAIRY'S NIGHTMARE -- A mammoth's teeth looked like scrub boards and grew the size of footballs.  During its lifetime, a mammoth lost around six to eight sets of four large teeth.  Sand got mixed up in the grass it ate, and this wore its choppers down.  The mastodon, a distant cousin of the mammoth, also lost its teeth.  What would happen when the last set ground down?  The toothless old fellow would die of starvation.

Mastodon teeth actually resemble human choppers.  In fact, some early tooth-finders thought that they had stumbled upon the graves of giant people.  It's very tough to find complete mastodon teeth in Florida today.  However, bits of the enamel can often be retrieved from rivers & springs.  Sometimes beautifully colored, these pieces can be polished and crafted into jewelry. 

TIPPING THE SCALES -- One mighty mastodon could weigh as much as the entire Jacksonville Jaguar football team.