The Southern Mammoth (or Southern Elephant) Mammuthus meridionalis: How large and how heavy has it been? How much must such an elephant eat each day? To what kind of a climate was it adapted? On what kind of a plant-cover has it grazed? How has this giant been able, to walk from NE Siberia to Alaska? When has it traveled from Eurasia to North America? What have some of the world’s leading mammoth experts found out now about this?
Dick Mol, Larry D. Agenbroad, and Jim I. Mead state in their book, Mammoths (1993:4): “The descendants (of the African mammoth) reached Europe via the Strait of Gibraltar or the Middle East. They are called ‘southern mammoths’ (Mammuthus meridionalis), and could reach a shoulder height of 420 cm (14 ft) (to the highest point of the backbone). The savannah-type environment, in which the southern mammoth lived, was probably the same as its ancestor, the African mammoth. (That is tropical to subtropical).
“In the early Pleistocene, between 2.3 million (or 1.8, depending on the researcher) and 800,000 B.P., the distribution of the southern mammoth was restricted to Eurasia. During this period of the Ice Age, when the sea level was lower, the climate was a cold phase. Representatives of this species migrated into the North American continent via northeastern Siberia and the Bering Land Bridge. When the temperature rose again, the sea level rose also, so the Bering Strait was formed, which divided the hemisphere from each other. The distribution of the southern mammoth was restricted to North America.”
Here is a logical contradiction: If the Southern Mammoth, just like its African ancestor, was adapted to a tropical climate, it could not have lived during the height of the Glaciation in Northeast Siberia. And it could not have walked then from there across the Bering Land Bridge into Alaska. That does not fit together.
Lisa W. Nelson states in, Mammoth Graveyard: A Treasure-Trove of Clues to the Past, 1994: “Glaciers blanketed much of northern Europe, Asia, and North America. When they swelled, and the sea level lowered, a very broad bridge of land was exposed, that connected Siberia and Alaska at the Bering Strait. During interglacials, the Bering land bridge was submerged under the rising sea. It is generally accepted, that mammoths, and earlier the mastodons, traveled to North America from Asia across this bridge of land. ... Mammoths and mastodons migrated to North America from Siberia across the Bering land bridge during glacial periods, when the sea level was low enough, to expose the land bridge connecting the two continents. The two species traveled down through Alaska and Canada along an ice-free passageway to the south.”
Adrian Lister and Paul Bahn state about Europe’s southern mammoth: “At first sight, these ancestral mammoths looked more like the elephants of today. Not yet adapted to the cold of the Ice Age, they lack the hairy coat of their descendants. ...Europe in the Early Pleistocene enjoyed a mild climate for much of the time, and the forests included many species of animals and plants, whose closest relatives now live farther south. One example is the porcupine, which today is found in North Africa and the Middle East.” (1994:12, 13)
How large and how heavy was the southern mammoth (or elephant) Mammuthus meridionalis?
Adrian Lister: “From these finds, a picture of M. meridionalis and its habitat can be pieced together. Complete skeletons reveal an animal, considerably bigger than a modern elephant – about 13 ft (4 m) high and probably weighing around 10 tons. The tusks were robust and showed the characteristic mammoth twist. Plants and other fossils, found with the remains, show that M. meridionalis was living in a time of mild climate, generally as warm or slightly warmer, than Europe experiences today. Deciduous mixed woodland provided its habitat and food, which comprised mostly tree-browse: oak, ash, beech and other familiar European trees, as well as some, that are now exotic to the region, such as hemlock, wing nut and hickory.
“Judging from its climatic context, M. meridionalis probably lacked the dense fur of later mammoths and would have looked at first sight more like a typical elephant. However, the curved tusks and the rather pointed top of the head marked it out as a mammoth. Alongside it lived numerous other exotic animals such as porcupines, comb-antlered deer, zebralike horses, small rhinoceroses and primitive pigs and cattle.” Lister, A. et al. (1994:24).
“Only one single tooth of M. meridionalis, from the Vilui River Basin, attests to its presence in eastern Siberia. However, even without this fossil, it is clear, that the early mammoths must at some time have expanded into Beringia, for this was the only route into North America, and their remains – beginning around 1.5 million years ago – have been found on that continent. The migration presumably occurred during a phase of relatively mild climate, for M. meridionalis was essentially a warmth-adapted species. And Beringia was in the Arctic. Once in the New World, the ancestral mammoths soon spread to the south, for early remains have been found in southern Alberta, Florida and elsewhere. ... Skeletons of the ancestral mammoth M. meridionalis indicate an animal, that was generally about 13 ft (4 m) high. ... Eating took up a great deal of the mammoth’s life. The large Columbian mammoth, needed some 300 lb (135 kg) of fresh food a day, and so was almost continually foraging.” Lister, A. et al. (1994:64, 68).
Comment
Here is a logical contradiction: The Bering Strait between the northeastern Siberia and Alaska is now only about 60 miles (100 km) wide. It is supposed to have been dry land, when it was very cold. That is, at the peak of the Ice Age, when sea level was about 100 m lower than now. Because the missing water was stored then in the ice-sheets. But the southern mammoth (M. meridionalis) was adapted to a warm climate, to a warm temperate climate. And the migration presumably occurred during a phase of relatively mild climate. Would an elephant, adapted to a warm temperate climate, be able to live in an arctic climate during the height of the glaciation? - The answer is: No!
Ralf-Dietrich Kahlke reports: Elephants of the meridionalis-group spread out gradually from S Europe, southern West Siberia and Kazakhstan to E Siberia. And from there, they went across the Bering Land Bridge to N America. The first migration of representatives of the mammoth-line into the New World occurred about 1.8 million years ago. A skeleton of A. meridionalis from Georgievsk (N-Caucasus) has a shoulder-height of 400 cm.
Progressive forms of the meridionalis-group were common in Europe until the Cromer time. Important sites are the Cromer Forest Beds (East Anglia) and Voigtstedt (Thüringen). The skeleton, found at Nogaysk (Sea of Asov), has the remarkable shoulder height of 410 cm. Kahlke, R-D. (1994:25, 26).
The earliest forms of the mammoth-line, Archidiskodon subplanifrons in S and E Africa, and the a little more evolved (= specialized) A. africanavus of N Africa were elements of typical savanna faunas. The still relatively unspecialized forms (A. gromovi or early representatives of A. meridionalis) came to Eurasia during the lower Villafranchium. The animals, which were found together with them and the pollen do show us, that they have lived in Europe and southern W Siberia in warm tree-savannas. Garutt & Gajguševa (1981, p. 12-15) were able to show, that the tall and relatively short body of these animals enabled them, to reach the leaves, twigs, and bark of trees. They were built like the recent African savanna elephant Locodonta africana. Besides grasses and herbs, it also eats leaves and twigs.” Kahlke, R-D. (1994:76)
The Steppe elephant (Mammuthus trogontherii) from the Mosbach sands near Mainz-Amöneburg (Hesse, Germany). Large bulls had a shoulder height of 4.5 m. And their tusks were up to 4.5 m long. This elephant has lived in the Middle Pleistocene. It has descended from the Southern Elephant (Mammuthus meridialis of the Early Pleistocene). From: E. Probst, Deutschland in der Urzeit (1986:317).
Body weight and food intake
The southern mammoth (M. meridionalis) in Eurasia and North ‘America has weighed about 10 tons (10,000 kg). How much aboveground vegetation must grow at least, so that these elephants would be able to live there? That is, how much aboveground dry matter per square meter per year (g DM/m² yr)? Below a certain amount of aboveground dry matter, the animal will not be able to take in enough feed per day, even if it tried to graze much faster. Somewhere downward, there must be a limit somewhere, where the animal is still able to live (marginal habitat). Below this limit, it will starve to death. Where is this lower limit? Where is this lower limit for these elephant?
I have worked out a table, entitled, “Lowest aboveground plant dry matter per year, where animal still is able to live”. It is for the body weight of hoofed animals (like the bison, musk-ox, rhino, elephant, wild horse, and wild ass). The first column has the body weight of the animal, from 100 kg (live weight) to 14,000 kg. The second column has the aboveground dry plant matter per square meter per year (g DM/m² yr), for each body weight. This much aboveground vegetation (dry weight) must grow at least, so that the animal is still able to live there. This table is based on the following values:
The average plains bison in the boreal mixed forest in Alberta needs at least 77.9 gDM/m² year. If there is less, the bison will not be able to take in enough feed per day, even when grazing faster (Hudson, R. J. and S. Frank, 1987:72, 73). The largest bison bull in the National Bison Range in Montana, northwestern U.S.A., weighs 1250 kg. He needs at least an average 189 gDM/m² year (Belovsky, G. E. 1986:36, 46).
The African elephant is still able to live, where at least 255 gDM/m² has grown per year from 300 mm of rain. During the great drought of 1970-71 in Tsavo East N. Park, East Africa, about 5000 elephants and several hundred black rhinos have starved to death with a full stomach, where only 200 gDM/m² had grown per year from 235 mm of rain. From the 1250-kg body weight upward to 14,000-kg, I have calculated the critical aboveground plant production from the metabolic body weight.
3000-kg elephant. The elephant (or mammoth) weighing 3000-kg, needs at least 367 g DM/m² per year, so that it will be able to live there. But this is only true, if the plant is able to grow there during 8-9 months of the year, if there is no arctic winter with ice and snow, if the climate is at least temperate. We must also remember here: Important to the animal is not only the amount of its food, but also its quality. It needs food that is high in protein and low in fiber. Only then it will be able to digest it. The African elephant will starve to death with a full stomach, while feeding in tall grassland, where the blades of grass are 2-3 meters high. That is, if they are brown and dried up, too low in protein and too high in fiber.
6400-kg elephant. The elephant (or mammoth) weighing 6.4 tons, needs at least 709 g DM/m² per year, so that it will be able to live there.
10,000-kg elephant. The southern mammoth and the steppe mammoth, weighing about 10 tons, need at least 1065 g DM/m² per year. This food is only able to grow, if it is warm enough, if the plants are able to grow during about 8-9 months of the year. And this food must contain enough protein. In an arctic climate this is not possible.
Result
· The Southern Mammoth (Mammuthus meridionalis) was adapted to a tropical, subtropical, and temperate climate. It was not able, to live in an arctic climate. On an arctic plant-cover it would have starved, thirsted and frozen to death.
· The Southern Mammoth (Mammuthus meridionalis) went from Northeastern Siberia to Western Alaska, when the Bering Strait was dry land, when sea level was about 100-200 m lower than now, when the climate was at least warm-temperate, without an arctic winter, without ice and snow.
· This disproves the belief that sea level was only 100-200 m lower than now during the peak of a Glaciation, when the missing sea water was stored in huge continental ice sheets. - Why was sea level 100-200 m lower than now, while the climate in the Far North was subtropical to temperate? This riddle, the world’s leading mammoth experts should try to solve next.
Dubrovo, Irena in Megafauna & Man, edited by Larry D. Agenbroad, Jim I. Mead, Lisa W. Nelson, at Hot Springs, South Dakota, and Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona 1990.
Kahlke, Ralf-Dietrich Die Entstehungs-, Entwicklungs- und Verbreitungsgeschichte des oberpleistozänen Mammuthus-Coelodonta-Faunenkomplexes in Eurasien (Großsäuger), (The Arising, Evolving and Expanding of the Upper-Pleistocene Mammuthus-Coelodonta faunal complex), Frankfurt am Main 1994.
Krause, Hans The Mammoth and the Flood, Volumes 1-3, Stuttgart 1996, 1997
Mol, Dick, Larry D Agenbroad, and Jim I. Mead Mammoths (1993). published by The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota, Inc., Hot Springs, South Dakota.
Nelson, Lisa W., Mammoth Graveyard: A Treasure-Trove of Clues to the Past. Produced by the Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota, Inc. 1994.
Shaded area, where the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) has lived in North America. This elephant has not lived in a “glacial refugium” in Alaska and the Yukon Territory, west of the continental ice sheet, as some prominent ice-age experts believe. The woolly mammoth has grazed in northern Canada up to the shores of the Arctic Sea, also east and west of Hudson Bay. This was only possible, when the climate up there was mild, temperate, without an arctic winter.
The continuous lines show us, where the Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) has lived in North America, during the time of the woolly mammoth. Most of them have lived in the northeastern United States, near the Great Lakes, and from there, southwestwards to the southwestern parts of the United States (southern California and Texas). The Columbian Mammoth has ranged then in Canada up to the southern part of Hudson Bay and westwards up to about 60° North, at the border of British Columbia and the Yukon Territory. Map from L. D. Agenbroad, The distribution and chronology of mammoth in the New World, in Acta Zool. Fennica 170:223 (1985), Helsinki.
Artist’s reconstruction of an August scene on the Gower coast, South Wales, during the Last (Ipswichian Interglacial, about 120 000 years ago, based on fossil mammalian remains and paleobotanical evidence from river and lake deposits. Five species of mammals are shown, all abundant in southern Britain during the Ipswichian, and a sixth is represented by a skull. These are the hippopotamus; straight-tusked elephant, Palaeoloxodon antiquus, narrow-nosed rhinoceros, Dicerorhinus hemitoechus; red deer, Cervus elaphus; and spotted hyaena Crocuta crocuta. The straight-tusked elephant was an animal of immense size, sometimes reaching 4 metres at the shoulder, substantially larger than any upper Pleistocene woolly mammoth. From: Antony J. Sutcliffe, On the Track of Ice Age Mammals (1985:116, 118, 119) Fig. 10.3.