Mastodons. Cyclopes, mammoths, mastodons An important role in the development of the project is played by our dear users who help to identify errors, and also share their comments and suggestions

Surprisingly, but a fact: an elephant is not a mammoth that has become bald in the process of evolution, but a completely different animal. True, both elephants and mammoths had a common ancestor - a hippopotamus-like creature called the moriterium.

However, not only mammoths with elephants, but also waterfowl dugongs and manatees descended from him. So the mammoth is no more related to the elephant than it is to the pinniped manatee. Not the closest relationship, right?

This does not mean that nature did not use fantasy at all when working on elephants. Among the relatives of elephants there are very funny specimens that look like characters from strange dreams. How do you, for example, like this?

This is Platibelodon (lat. Platibelodon danovi), an Asian relative of the Miocene elephant. This creature had one set of tusks and huge teeth in the lower jaw. There were no upper teeth, as well as a trunk, but the upper lip is very reminiscent of it - it is just as long and corrugated.

Also, modern elephants are not descendants of mastodons, although the latter look like them and mammoths at the same time. Mastodons were inferior to mammoths in growth and were only up to 3 meters in height (no larger than a modern elephant), but they had the longest tusks. Mastodons lived in Africa during the Oligocene. By the way, they died out not so long ago. By that time, our ancestors not only finished evolving, but also managed to populate the entire earth.

For comparison, mammoths were up to 5 meters in height and also died out about 10 thousand years ago. Unlike mastodons, they lived everywhere - both in Eurasia and on both continents of America. According to recent studies, it was not man who led to the disappearance of mammoths, but one of the last ice ages.

... Eastern peoples called mammoths differently, but some names are translated as "a mouse burrowing into the ground." The Nenets call the mammoth "yakhora", which means "earth beast". The mammoth and almost all Siberian peoples considered an earthen animal. They thought that mammoths roamed underground, making their way with tusks, and died as soon as they got into fresh air or daylight. Therefore - so the legends say - no one has ever seen a living mammoth. (I.M. Zabelin)

In fact, mammoths were contemporaries of prehistoric man, and we know many of their rock carvings. But later legends included extinct mammoths, fossils. After all, in the permafrost zone where they lived, the remains of people and animals are preserved incorruptible in permafrost soils.

By the way, it was the skulls of these giants that led to the emergence of the legend of the Cyclopes. Skulls with sawn-off tusks were often found on the territory of Greece (tusks were cut down by the ancestors of the ancient Greeks - for construction). Such a skull, about a meter high, very much resembles the remains of a living three-eyed creature with a small brain and a huge jaw. And what the ancient Greeks took for the eye, in fact, was the place where the trunk was attached.

“Along with the legends about mammoths in ancient times, legends arose about “earth people”, mammoth hunters, who were most often called kosses. They were represented as one-eyed giants, and the bones of the same mammoths, especially the skulls, were taken for the remains of the Kosses; without fangs, they resemble human ones, but they have one through hole (the eye sockets are almost invisible). (Ibid.)

Similar legends about one-eyed giants exist among many peoples: in the Caucasus, Siberia, Altai, Central Asia, Crimea, etc. And it is unlikely that this is only the cultural influence of ancient Greece, whose indigenous population during the colonization even settled on the shores of the Black Sea. Therefore, the version of the mammoth Cyclops seems to be the most convincing, since the distribution area of the latter was quite wide. For example, on the territory of Belarus, finds of mammoth bones were made in 180 places, including finds of whole skeletons.

In the book by P. Volkov “Where the tree of life grows”, written in response to a book published in 2002 book by Alexander Belov"Anthropological detective", contains a description of just one of these cases:

“The most typical case is the giant from Lucerne. Not far from this city in Switzerland in 1577, large bones were found. Scientists puzzled over them for a long time and finally invited an expert from Basel - Dr. Felix Plater. The doctor, who knew anatomy perfectly, announced that the bones belonged to a giant over six meters high. Dr. Plater even drew this giant. From his sketch, drawings and engravings were made, the giant was even depicted on the coat of arms of Lucerne. The bones were put on public display. Over the centuries, man has greatly succeeded in the study of anatomy and the prehistoric world. The bones were shown to the German zoologist John Friedrich Blumenbach. He determined that they belonged to a mammoth."

Scientists suggest that the prototype of the Cyclopes in Ancient Greece was a unique species of pygmy elephants that lived in ancient times on the island of Sicily, as well as on other islands of the Mediterranean Sea (Sardinia, Malta, Crete, Rhodes and Cyprus).

In Greek mythology, the Cyclopes (or "Cyclopes", which means "round-eyed") were the sons of Uranus and Gaia and were represented by giants with one eye in the middle of their foreheads.

The American mastodon (Mastodon americanum) is the last and most studied member of its family. This species lived in North America at the same time by two other representatives of the proboscis - the Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) and the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), which migrated from Asia to America in the late Pleistocene. As a species, the American mastodon formed about 3.7 million years ago, much earlier than its distant relatives mentioned above, it outlived the Columbian mammoth and died out together with the woolly mammoth about 9-8 thousand years ago, that is, actually living up to the Holocene (it should be noted that some island forms of mammoths survived until the historical era, that is, they lived during the first civilizations, such as, for example, Sumer).
Unlike mammoths (and elephants in general), mastodons had a more elongated and less prominent skull, with longer jaws and more teeth. The chewing surface of the teeth resembled nipples, thanks to which these animals got their name - the word "mastodon" in translation into Russian means "papillary". Also, unlike elephants, mastodons had not one, but two pairs of tusks, but in the process of evolution, the lower tusks gradually decreased and in the American mastodon, as in the youngest species, they became very small and were almost invisible. The upper tusks were very well developed - they were larger than those of modern elephants, but smaller than those of mammoths. Unlike the woolly mammoth, whose tusks first grew downward and then curved upward sharply, the tusks of the American mastodon grew forward and were not so strongly curved. The body of the American mastodon was relatively more elongated, the withers are quite well defined, but not as pronounced as those of the mammoth. The height of the American mastodon was slightly inferior to the woolly mammoth, reaching 3 meters at the shoulder, however, having a more massive skeleton, it probably weighed about the same, that is, about 5-6 tons. American mastodons preferred to live in wooded areas, while mammoths gravitated more towards open landscapes.
The only natural enemies of American mastodons at first were only smilodons. But they usually attacked only young, old or sick animals. Only with the arrival of man in North America did the mastodons have a serious and very dangerous enemy, which they could not resist and, under the influence of various natural factors on the one hand and the vigorous activity of man to destroy the fauna on the other, the mastodons died out along with other representatives of the mammoth fauna.

Taxonomy:

Order: Proboscidea (proboscis)
Family: Mammutidae (mastodons)
Genus: Mammut (mastodons)
Species: Mammut americanum (American mastodon)

Illustrations:

Mastodon is an extinct giant animal of the Tertiary period. MASTODONTS - (Mastodontidae), a family of extinct proboscis. Mastodons - (from the Greek mastos nipple and odous, genitive case odontos tooth), extinct mammals similar to elephants.

In appearance, the mastodons looked like an elephant, reaching the same size, had the same five-fingered limbs, trunk, and are believed to have led the same lifestyle. A significant difference is only the teeth of the mastodon. Compared to mammoths, mastodons had short legs, a long body.

See what "MASTODONT" is in other dictionaries:

The surgeon Masurier describes the bones of mastodons found in 1613 in the valley of the Rhone River as the remains of the Cimbri king Teutobok (English) Russian .. Therefore, it is assumed that the mastodon moved to America from Asia, along the isthmus that once connected these two parts of the world now separated. In colloquial Russian, a mastodon is a person of enormous growth, clumsy and wild in appearance. MASTODONT - (Greek, from mastos nipple, and odus, odontos tooth). An antediluvian animal with mammillary molars, the largest of all discovered so far.

MASTODONTS - (Mastodontidae) extinct proboscis with low-crowned teeth and a few ridges of the chewing surface

Gomphotheriidae and Mammutidae of the proboscis order (Proboscidea). The very name of these animals comes from the Greek words mastos - nipple and odont - tooth. In contrast, mammoths and elephants have a series of transverse ridges on their molars, separated by cementum.

In Eurasia, they died out at the end of the Pliocene, in Africa at the beginning of the Anthropogen, in America they survived until the beginning of the Holocene. The tusks were usually developed in the upper and lower jaws. These are elephants - Indian and African. Smaller mastodons outwardly resembled mammoths, but appeared much earlier - about 20 million years ago. Many of them were also covered with long reddish hair. Mastodons and mammoths have long lived side by side with the primitive man who hunted them.

M. appeared in Europe, Asia, and Africa in the Middle Miocene and died out by the end of the Tertiary period. In America, he appeared later and existed in the Quaternary period, simultaneously with prehistoric man. This is the largest representative of Mastodons in Europe, its height at the shoulders was 4.5 meters, and the upper tusks reached almost 5 meters, that is, more than the growth of the animal.

They also differed in habitats6 mammoths grazed in the steppes, and mastodons lived in forests or in near-water groves.

2) The tusks are slightly curved, almost straight, the largest of the Mastodons. Females had the same tusks, that is, their presence is not a sign of sexual dimorphism. But there are finds in North Africa, in the USA and China. That is, the distribution of this elephant across the ancient continents was quite wide.

7) “The discovered tusks reached a length of 5 and 4 meters, respectively, these are the longest tusks of proboscis animals ever found so far. 10) That is, this giant Mastodon was quite mobile for its size and weight. Straight tusks have more pronounced attacking functions than curved ones like those of mammoths.

Mastodons reached an average size of 2.3 m. Males could reach 2.8 m and weigh about 4.5 tons

Adult males lived separately from the herd, which consisted of females and cubs. Now the proboscis squad includes only two species of animals. However, in the history of the Earth there were more proboscis, and very different ones, including furry ones, like bears. Shaggy mammoths are especially well known, since their perfectly preserved corpses with the remains of soft tissues, internal organs and wool were found in the permafrost.

Mammoths were similar in size to modern elephants. Cereals are one of the most prosperous families of modern plants, including nearly 10,000 species. types. They form the basis of the so-called grass communities in the steppes, prairies, and savannahs. In these territories, huge herds of ungulates constantly graze, which annually trample and pluck cereals, and at least that. The secret of such vitality is in the special structure of cereals.

This is especially true for professional translations of documents and texts. The Explanatory Dictionary is a non-commercial online project and is supported by specialists in the Russian language, culture of speech and philology.

Indeed, the remains of M. are very numerous in the Upper Tertiary deposits of Europe, sowing. Africa, south Asia, Sev. and Yuzhn. America and were already known in the Middle Ages, but then attributed to the giants.

6) It was in July 2007 that the Air Force reported: “In the North of Greece, a team of Dutch and Greek scientists discovered an incredible elephant with very long tusks during excavations”

In addition to individual bones and teeth in Italy, Francnia and North. America found several complete skeletons of M., which made it possible to study its organization. The longest tusks in the history of the animal world on the planet (up to 5 meters). 5) Most of the finds of this giant were made in Central and Eastern Europe, in particular in Greece and Romania.

Four travelers emerge from the ocean heading towards the desert. Among them is the main character Rudy, a descendant of the ancient Liritians. These giants appeared about 4.5 million years ago, and began to die out 10 thousand years ago with the end of the last ice age, although they were found in Siberia for thousands of years.

An important role in the development of the project is played by our respected users who help to identify errors, and also share their comments and suggestions.

It is this feature that distinguishes Mastodons both from living elephants and from Mammoths. Mastodons were outwardly similar to Mammoths, but unlike the latter, they had tusks directed forward and almost straight. This is probably why Borson's Mastodon had such formidable weaponry.

(Proboscidea). Also, mastodons are often called representatives of the Gomphotherian family ( Gomphotheriidae). Mastodons differ from mammoths and living elephants (also proboscis, but from the Elephantidae family) in a number of ways, the most significant of which are related to the structure of the teeth. In mastodons, on the chewing surface of the molars (molars) there is a series of paired nipple-like tubercles. The very name of these animals comes from the Greek words μαστός "nipple" and ὀδούς "tooth". In contrast, mammoths and elephants have a series of transverse ridges separated by cementum on their molars. In many mastodons, both the upper and lower jaws had the second incisors converted into tusks (and in some members of the gomphoteric family, the lower tusks were spade-shaped and were used for digging). Mastodons were herbivorous - some species ate the branches of trees and shrubs, while others in the process of evolution increasingly switched to feeding on grass.

Large male American mastodon Mammoth americanum reached a height of 3 m at the withers, but not a single species of this group exceeded modern elephants in overall size with their long and massive body and a peculiar sloping skull. Adult males lived separately from the herd, which consisted of females and cubs. Sexual maturity occurred by 10-15 years, and life expectancy was about 60 years.

The first mastodons appeared in Africa during the Oligocene, approximately 35 mya. Later, these proboscideans spread to Europe, Asia, North and South America. The last mastodons died out about 10,000 years ago. At least 20 species have been described.

According to one version, the cause of the extinction of mastodons could be tuberculosis.

In 2007, German scientists studied mitochondrial DNA from a mastodon tooth that was 50-130 thousand years old.

Mastodon skeletons in museums

MastodonSkeleton.jpg

Mammut skeleton Museum of the Earth.jpg

Mammut americanum Exhibit Museum of Natural History 01.JPG

Mammoth americanum.jpg

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Notes

An excerpt characterizing the Mastodons

- Why is he so long, reddish? the doctor asked.
Rostov described Denisov's appearance.
“There was, there was such a person,” the doctor said as if joyfully, “this one must have died, but I can handle it, I had lists. Do you have it, Makeev?
“Makar Alekseich has the lists,” said the paramedic. “But come to the officers’ chambers, you’ll see for yourself there,” he added, turning to Rostov.
“Oh, it’s better not to go, father,” said the doctor, “otherwise you don’t stay here yourself.” - But Rostov bowed to the doctor and asked the paramedic to accompany him.
"Don't blame me," the doctor shouted from under the stairs.
Rostov with the paramedic entered the corridor. The hospital smell was so strong in this dark corridor that Rostov grabbed his nose and had to stop in order to gather his strength and move on. A door opened to the right, and a thin, yellow man, barefoot and in nothing but underwear, leaned out on crutches.
Leaning against the lintel, he looked at the passers-by with shining, envious eyes. Glancing through the door, Rostov saw that the sick and wounded were lying there on the floor, on straw and overcoats.
- Can I come in and have a look? Rostov asked.
- What to watch? the paramedic said. But precisely because the paramedic obviously did not want to let him in, Rostov entered the soldiers' chambers. The smell he had already smelled in the hallway was even stronger here. This smell has changed somewhat here; it was sharper, and it was sensitive that it was precisely from here that he came.
In a long room, brightly lit by the sun through large windows, in two rows, with their heads to the walls and leaving a passage in the middle, lay the sick and the wounded. Most of them were in oblivion and did not pay attention to those who entered. Those that were in the memory all rose or raised their thin, yellow faces, and all with the same expression of hope for help, reproach and envy of someone else's health, without taking their eyes off Rostov. Rostov went to the middle of the room, looked into the neighboring doors of the rooms with the doors open, and saw the same thing on both sides. He stopped, silently looking around him. He never expected to see this. In front of him lay almost across the middle aisle, on the bare floor, a sick man, probably a Cossack, because his hair was cut in a bracket. This Cossack was lying on his back, his huge arms and legs spread out. His face was crimson red, his eyes were completely rolled up, so that only whites were visible, and on his bare feet and on his hands, still red, the veins tensed like ropes. He hit the back of his head on the floor and said something hoarsely and began to repeat this word. Rostov listened to what he was saying and made out the word he repeated. The word was: drink - drink - drink! Rostov looked around, looking for someone who could put this patient in his place and give him water.
- Who's here for the sick? he asked the paramedic. At this time, a Furstadt soldier, a hospital attendant, came out of the next room, and stretched out in front of Rostov, beating a step.
- I wish you good health, your highness! - shouted this soldier, rolling his eyes at Rostov and, obviously, mistaking him for the hospital authorities.
“Take him away, give him water,” said Rostov, pointing to the Cossack.
“I’m listening, your honor,” the soldier said with pleasure, rolling his eyes even more diligently and stretching himself, but not moving.

Eastern peoples called mammoths in different ways, but some names are translated as "a mouse burrowing into the ground." The Nenets call the mammoth "yakhora", which means "earth beast". The mammoth and almost all Siberian peoples considered an earthen animal. They thought that mammoths roamed underground, making their way with tusks, and died as soon as they got into fresh air or daylight. Therefore - so the legends say - no one has ever seen a living mammoth. (I.M. Zabelin)