Mammoths | Gentle Bedtime Reading

Drift off with this calm bedtime reading designed to support better sleep and ease insomnia. This gentle episode blends relaxing storytelling with soft education to help settle a restless mind. Relax with a peaceful exploration of mammoths—their history, their world, and the surprising details hidden in the fossil record.

You’ll discover something new while letting the steady, unhurried cadence guide you toward rest. There’s no whispering here, just fact-filled calm for sleeplessness, stress, and anxious nights. Press play, settle in, and let your thoughts soften as you drift toward dreams. Happy sleeping!

Transcript

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast,

Where I help you drift off one fact at a time.

I'm your host,

Benjamin Boster,

And today's episode is about mammoths.

A mammoth is any species of the extinct Elephantogenus mammothus.

They lived from the late Miocene Epoch,

From around 6.

2 million years ago,

Into the Holocene until about 4,

000 years ago,

With mammoth species at various times inhabiting Africa,

Asia,

Europe,

And North America.

Mammoths are distinguished from living elephants by their typically large spirally twisted tusks and in some later species the development of numerous adaptations to living in cold environments,

Including a thick layer of fur.

Mammoths and Asian elephants are more closely related to each other than they are to African elephants.

The oldest mammoth representative,

Mammothus subplanifrons,

Appeared around 6 million years ago during the late Miocene in what is now southern and eastern Africa.

Later in the Pliocene,

By about 3 million years ago,

Mammoths dispersed into Eurasia,

Eventually covering most of Eurasia before migrating into North America around 1.

5 to 1.

3 million years ago,

Becoming ancestral to the Columbian mammoth.

The woolly mammoth evolved about 700 to 400,

000 years ago in Siberia,

With some surviving on Russia's Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean,

Until as recently as 4,

000 years ago,

Still extant during the existence of the earliest civilizations in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.

According to the American Heritage Dictionary,

The word mammoth likely originates from manongt,

A word in the Mansi languages of western Siberia,

Meaning earth horn,

In reference to mammoth tusks.

Mammoths appear in the folklore of the indigenous people of Siberia who were impressed by the great size of their remains.

In the mythology of the Evank people,

Mammoths were responsible for the creation of the world,

Digging up the land from the ocean floor with their tusks.

The Selka believed that mammoths lived underground and guarded the underworld,

While the Nenets and the Mansi,

The latter of whom,

Along with the Xanti,

Conceived mammoths as giant birds,

Believed that mammoths were responsible for the creation of mountains and lakes,

While the Yakuts regarded mammoths as water spirits.

The word mammoth was first used in Europe during the early 17th century,

When referring to Maimanto tusks discovered in Siberia,

As recorded in the 1618 edition of the Dictionariolum Russico Anglicum.

The earliest scientific research paper on mammoths was by Vasily Tatichev in 1725.

John Bell,

Who was on the Ob River in 1722,

Said that mammoth tusks were well known in the area.

They were called mammon's horn and were often found in washed out riverbanks.

Bell bought one and presented it to Hans Sloane,

Who pronounced it an elephant's tooth.

In the American colonies around 1725,

Enslaved Africans digging in the vicinity of the Stono River in South Carolina,

Unearthed molar teeth,

Recognized in modern times to belong to Colombian mammoths.

With the remains subsequently examined by the British naturalist Mark Catsby,

Who visited the site,

And later published an account of his visit in 1743.

While the slave owners were puzzled by the objects and suggested that they originated from the great flood described in the Bible,

Catsby noted that the slaves unanimously agreed that the objects were the teeth of elephants,

Similar to those from their African homeland,

To which Catsby concurred,

Marking the first technical identification of any fossil animal in North America.

In 1796,

French biologist Georges Cuvier was the first to identify woolly mammoth remains,

Not as modern elephants transported to the Arctic,

But as entirely new species.

He argued this species had gone extinct and no longer existed,

A concept that was not widely accepted at the time.

Following Cuvier's identification,

German naturalist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach gave the woolly mammoth its scientific name,

Eliphos primigenius,

In 1799,

Placing it in the Eliphos,

The genus which today contains the Asian elephant,

Eliphos maximus.

Originally,

The African elephants,

As well as the American Mastodon,

Described in 1792,

Were also placed in Eliphos.

Cuvier coined the synonym Eliphos mammontius for the woolly mammoth a few months later,

But Eliphos primigenius became the widely used name for the species,

Including by Cuvier.

The genus name mammothus was coined by British anatomist Joshua Brooks in 1828 as part of a survey of his museum collection.

Thomas Jefferson,

Who famously had a keen interest in paleontology,

Is particularly responsible for transforming the word mammoth from a noun describing the prehistoric elephant to an adjective describing anything of surprisingly large size.

The first recorded use of the word as an adjective was in the description of a large wheel of cheese,

The Cheshire mammoth cheese,

Given to Jefferson in 1802.

The earliest known proboscideans,

The clade that contains the elephants,

Arose about 55 million years ago on the landmass of Afro-Arabia.

The closest relatives of the proboscidean are the syrenians and the hyraxes.

Like living elephants,

Mammoths typically had large body sizes.

The largest known species were considerably larger than modern elephants,

With mature adult males having an average height of approximately 3.

8 to 4.

2 meters at the shoulder and weights of 9.

6 to 12.

7 tons,

While exceptionally large males may have reached 4.

5 meters at the shoulder and 14.

3 tons in weight.

However,

Woolly mammoths were considerably smaller,

Only about as large as modern African bush elephants,

With males around 2.

8 to 3.

15 meters high at the shoulder and 4.

5 to 6 tons in weight on average,

With the largest recorded individuals being around 3.

5 meters tall and 8.

2 tons in weight.

The insular dwarf mammoth species were considerably smaller,

With the smallest species estimated to have a shoulder height of only around 1 meter and a weight of about 180 kilograms,

Making it one of the smallest elephantids known.

The number of lamellae,

Ridge-like structures on the molars,

Particularly on the third molars,

Substantially increased over the course of mammoth evolution.

The earliest Eurasian species have around 8 to 10 lamellae on the third molars,

While late Pleistocene woolly mammoths have 20 to 28 lamellae on the third molars.

These changes have also corresponded with reduced enamel thickness and increasing tooth height.

These changes are thought to be adaptations to increasing abrasion,

Resulting from the shift in the diet of mammoths from a browsing-based diet towards a grazing diet in later species.

Both sexes bore tusks.

A first,

Small set appeared at about the age of 6 months,

And these were replaced at about 18 months by the permanent set.

Growth of the permanent set was at a rate of about 2.

5 to 15 cm per year.

The tusks display a strong spiral twisting.

Mammoth tusks are among the largest known among proboscideans,

With some specimens over 4 m in length and likely 200 kg in weight,

With some historical reports suggesting tusks of Colombian mammoths could reach lengths of around 5 m,

Substantially surpassing the largest known modern elephant tusks.

The heads of mammoths were prominently domed.

The first several thoracic vertebrae of mammoths typically had long neural spines.

The back was typically sloping,

And the body being wider than that of African elephants.

The tails of mammoths were relatively short compared to living elephants.

While early mammoth species were probably relatively hairless,

Similar to modern elephants,

Some had a substantial coat of fur,

Among other physiological adaptations for living in cold environments.

Genetic sequencing of one species,

Over 1 million years old from Siberia,

Suggests that they had already developed many of the genetic changes found in woolly mammoths,

Responsible for tolerance of cold conditions.

Scientists discovered and studied the remains of a mammoth calf,

And found that fat greatly influenced its form,

And enabled it to store large amounts of nutrients necessary for survival in temperatures as low as negative 50 degrees Celsius.

The fat also allowed the mammoths to increase their muscle mass,

Allowing the mammoths to fight against enemies and live longer.

Woolly mammoths evolved a suite of adaptations for arctic life,

Including morphological traits such as small ears and tails to minimize heat loss,

A thick layer of subcutaneous fat,

And numerous sebaceous glands for insulation,

As well as a large brown fat hump-like deposit behind the neck that may have functioned as a heat source and fat reservoir during winter.

Based on studies of their close relatives,

The modern elephants and mammoths probably had a gestation period of 22 months,

Resulting in a single calf being born.

Their social structure was probably the same as that of living elephants,

With females and juveniles residing in herds headed by a matriarch,

Whilst bulls lived solitary lives or formed loose groups after sexual maturity.

With analysis of testosterone levels in tusks indicating that adult males experienced periods of must like modern elephants,

Where they entered a state of heightened aggression.

The earliest mammoth species were mixed feeders to browsers.

Throughout mammoth evolution in Eurasia,

Their diet shifted towards mixed feeding grazing,

Culminating in the woolly mammoth,

Which was largely a grazer,

With stomach contents of woolly mammoths suggesting that they largely fed on grass and forbs.

M.

Columbi is thought to have been a mixed feeder.

Like living elephants,

Mammoth adults may have been largely invulnerable to non-human predation,

Though evidence has been found for the hunting of mammoth calves by predators,

Such as by the scimitar-toothed cat.

In living proboscideans,

Broken tusks sometimes occur during,

For example,

Fights between males,

Or when elephants of both sexes shove each other to reach critical resources such as water.

The fracture surface of the remaining rooted tooth then becomes smoothed from use.

It is very likely that this also occurred in extinct proboscideans,

Such as mammoths,

As seen from a tusk found at Fenston and Gravels,

Which still had some of the outer layers of cementum preserved,

And had a smoothed polished surface on an old fractured surface.

Evidence that humans interacted with mammoths extends back to around 1.

8 million years ago,

With a number of bones from the Dmanisi site in Georgia having marks suggested to be the result of butchery by archaic humans,

Likely as a result of scavenging.

During the last glacial period,

Modern humans hunted woolly mammoths,

Used their remains to create art and tools,

And depicted them in works of art.

Woolly mammoth bones were used as construction material for dwellings by both Neanderthals and modern humans during the Ice Age.

More than 70 such dwellings are known,

Mainly from the East European Plain.

The huts' bases were circular,

Ranging from 8 to 24 square meters.

Large bones were used as foundations for the huts,

Tusks for the entrances,

And the roofs were probably skins held in place by bones or tusks.

Remains of Colombian mammoths at a number of sites suggest that they were hunted by Paleo-Indians,

The first humans to inhabit the Americas.

A probable bone engraving of a Colombian mammoth made by Paleo-Indians is known from Vero Beach,

Florida.

Following the end of the last glacial maximum,

The range of the woolly mammoths began to contract,

Disappearing from most of Europe by 14,

000 years ago.

By the Younger Dryas,

Around 12,

900 to 11,

700 years before present,

Woolly mammoths were confined to the northernmost regions of Siberia.

This contraction is suggested to have been caused by the warming-induced expansion of unfavorable wet tundra and forest environments,

At the expense of the preferred dry,

Open mammoth steppe,

With the possible additional pressure of human hunting.

The last woolly mammoths in mainland Siberia became extinct around 10,

000 years ago,

During the Early Holocene.

The final extinction of mainland woolly mammoths may have been driven by human hunting.

Relict populations survived in St.

Paul Island in the Bering Strait until around 5,

600 years ago,

Was their extinction likely due to the degradation of freshwater sources,

And the Wrangel Island off the coast of northeast Siberia until around 4,

000 years ago.

The last reliable dates of the Columbian mammoth date to around 12,

500 years ago.

Columbian mammoths became extinct as part of the end-Pleistocene extinction event,

Where most large mammals across the Americas became extinct approximately simultaneously at the end of the late Pleistocene.

Hunting of Columbian mammoths by Paleo-Indians may have been a contributory factor in their extinction.

The timing of the extinction of the dwarf Sardinian mammoth is difficult to constrain precisely,

Though the youngest specimen likely dates to sometime around 57,

000 to 29,

000 years ago.

The youngest records of the Bigby mammoth date to around 13,

000 years ago,

Coinciding with the reducing of the area of the California Channel Islands as a result of rising sea level.

The earliest known humans in the Channel Islands and climatic change resulting in the decline of the previously dominant conifer forest ecosystems and expansion of scrub and grassland.

The mammoth site is a museum and paleontological site near Hot Springs,

South Dakota in the Black Hills.

It is an active paleontological excavation site at which research and excavations are continuing.

The facility encloses a prehistoric sinkhole that formed and was slowly filled with sediments during the Pleistocene era.

The sedimentary fill of the sinkhole contains the remains of Pleistocene fauna and flora,

Preserved by entrapment and burial within a sinkhole.

As of 2016,

The remains of 61 mammoths,

Including 58 North American Columbian and three woolly mammoths,

Have been recovered.

Mammoth bones were found at the site in 1974,

And a museum and building enclosing the site were established.

The museum now contains an extensive collection of mammoth remains.

During the late Pleistocene,

The sinkhole at Mammoth Site of Hot Springs formed when a cavern in the Minneloosa limestone collapsed.

This cavern collapse created a steep-sided sinkhole that was at least 65 feet deep and 120 feet by 150 feet wide at the surface,

Within a Pleistocene terrace underlain by spearfish shale.

The sinkhole is a surface expression of a vertical breccia pipe,

Which provided a chimney-like path that allowed warm artesian water to percolate upward and fill the sinkhole with a steeply-sided pond.

Based on observations from modern ponds and lakes,

It is estimated that this pond slowly infilled with silt over a period of 350 to 700 years.

The presence of worm burrows and mammoth footprints found throughout these sediments demonstrate that the laminated sediments within this sinkhole accumulated slowly and contemporaneously along with the mammoth remains over a long period of time.

Likely enticed by warm water and pond vegetation,

Mammoths entered the pond to eat,

Drink,

Or bathe.

Because of the steep sides of very slippery spearfish shale,

Mammoths were occasionally trapped as they were unable to find a foothold and climb out of the sinkhole during periods of low water.

Trapped in the sinkhole,

The mammoths ultimately died of starvation,

Exhaustion,

Or drowned in the pond.

Eventually,

The sinkhole filled,

And the artesian spring diverted to the lower elevation of Fall River as the river cut deeper into the valley floor.

Over thousands of years,

The hardened mud plug inside the dried-up pond has remained stable.

The surrounding sediment was subsequently eroded,

Leaving the sinkhole as it was.

The sinkhole is a high point on the landscape.

Warm artesian-fed spring waters created a pond that was attractive to wildlife.

Findings at the site included the remains of megafauna,

Such as giant short-faced bears,

Along with those of shrub oxen,

American camel,

Llama,

Wolves,

Coyotes,

Birds,

Minks,

Ferrets,

Prairie dogs,

Voles,

And moles.

Invertebrate discoveries included several species of clams,

Snails,

And slugs.

The majority of the mammoth remains have been identified as those of Colombian mammoths,

Although the remains of three woolly mammoths have been found as well.

Mammoths that slipped into the sinkhole found it difficult to escape.

Researchers measuring the pelvic bones of the remains have determined that most of the victims were young males.

A hypothesis drawn from observations of modern elephants' matriarchal societies,

In which these group members are expelled,

Concludes that this group was inclined to the risk-taking behaviors that led to their entrapment.

Initially,

The mammoth site was estimated to be about 20,

000 years old.

This estimate was made on the basis of the faunal remains that are found in association with the mammoth remains.

The presence of the remains of Pleistocene bear,

Camel,

Antelope,

And shrub ox indicated to geologists and paleontologists that sinkhole at this site might be filled with late Pleistocene,

Possibly terminal Pleistocene sediments.

Numerous attempts have been made to radiocarbon date these sediments.

Initially,

Several attempts were made to radiocarbon date collagen from scrap mammoth bone recovered from the site.

All of these attempts failed to recover sufficient collagen from the bone samples to allow dating of this fraction.

Later,

Samples of the bone apatite fraction from mammoth bones were radiocarbon dated.

Two samples of the heat-treated apatite fraction yielded radiocarbon dates of 19,

260 ± 1,

520 BP and 20,

770 ± 350 BP.

Samples of bone apatite which were not heat-treated yielded radiocarbon dates of 21,

000 ± 700,

25,

640 ± 320,

And 26,

075 ± 975 ± 790 BP.

A single sample of bone carbonate was radiocarbon dated at 36,

960 ± 1,

170 BP.

The circa 26,

000 BP time frame has been widely used by researchers as the approximate time that sediments and mammoth bones accumulated within the sinkhole within the mammoth site.

However,

Radiocarbon dates derived from bone apatite are now known to be highly unreliable and at best represent the minimum age of the bone dated.

In 1974,

A construction worker,

George Hansen,

Unearthed unusual bones while the area was being prepared for a new subdivision.

His son recognized one of the finds as a mammoth tooth.

The landowner,

Phil Anderson,

Agreed to further investigation and a complete skull and tusk were found in 1974.

Phil Anderson agreed to donate the entire bone bed and mineral rights to the non-profit organization,

And along with the work performed by amateur and professional excavators,

Led to its status as a museum,

And it was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1980.

Initially,

The finds were mapped on a string grid.

Since then,

The mapping systems have increasingly relied on computerized technologies.

The mammoth site is a 501c3 non-profit organization.

The museum is open to the public.

Earthwatch volunteers participate in excavations during July.

The museum's visiting scientists have included specialists from Mexico,

Italy,

Netherlands,

Great Britain,

Russia,

And Germany.

The museum also houses a collection of Clovis and Folsom artifacts and sponsors outreach programs for students from elementary to graduate school levels.

Reviews

I’m impressed with your pronunciation of some really challenging words and names!
Thank you, Benjamin! 😻😻

Oooh the prehistoric world, love it! Still, fell asleep before it was over 😴