JAX CURIOSITIES:  MORE MAMMOTHS & MASTODONS

(Source of mammoth picture above:  From the wonderful website Florida Frontier Gazette.  Used with permission.  Source of mastodon picture below: Florida State Archives)

This early Florida family has hit the hunter's jackpot:  They're butchering a newly-killed mammoth.

PACHYDERMS & PEOPLE -- Some researchers believe that mammoths may've lived in Florida as late as 4,000 years ago.  People first came to Florida around 12,000 years ago, so the ponderous pachyderms would have long co-existed with them.

According to other researchers, both mammoths & mastodons disappeared from Florida about 10,000 years ago.  However, they still shared the land with humans for some time.  In any case, elephants & their relatives ("proboscideans") inhabited prehistoric Florida for a really long time: 15 million years! 

TELLING ONE FROM THE OTHER -- Mastodons in Florida grew twice as long as mammoths.  Unlike mammoths, mastodons had low skulls & two pairs of tusks. Mastodons also browsed in forests for leaves. 

Mammoths, on the other hand, ate all types of plants.  Like cows, though, they preferred to graze for grass.  Because ancient Florida featured so many grasslands, mammoths outnumbered mastodons.  There's something else to consider:  Whereas mastodons weren't true elephants, mammoths were the ancestors of present-day pachyderms. 

CHANGING YOUR SURROUNDINGS -- A modern elephant can knock over trees that measure a foot or more in diameter.  In Florida, mammoths & mastodons were bigger than present-day pachyderms, so they could level even larger trees.  As a result, Florida's first humans probably saw some areas with few trees.  And they witnessed numerous tree trunks that had been stripped of their bark.

Sometimes, the grasslands were pockmarked with bare, uprooted ground.  Unlike cows, elephants do not trim vegetation evenly when feeding.  Their trunks rip out grass & plants, and their front feet kick the ground up. 

Elephants also eat dirt & wallow in mud.  Soil contains minerals, such as salt, that grass doesn't.  Therefore, pachyderms dig dirt with their tusks, lift it with their trunks, & dine on it.  Mud wallowing serves a good purpose too.  It helps to keep to the skin in a healthy condition, as does the elephant's habit of coating its body in mud. 

Large, permanent holes in the ground can result from an elephant's eating & grooming habits.  When soil is exposed, erosion can greatly increase.  Of all of the non-human creatures, elephants rank #1 in their ability to change the environment.  They transform the land to suit their needs. 

A MAMMOTH MATRIARCHY -- Each mammoth herd was a matriarchy, a group run by a mother.  An elderly female, up to almost 50 years old, served as the leader.  Everyone in the herd was kin to each other. 

Few males resided in the group, for they would leave as soon as they were old enough.  Bull mammoths lived a solitary life, but they did play the field, seeking out females from other herds.

TOY ELEPHANTS -- Believe it or not, mini mammoths lived at about the same time as the mighty mammoths.  These smaller creatures are known as "dwarf mammoths."  They stood three to six feet tall at the shoulder, while the large mammoths towered over them at up to thirteen feet.