Page created on : August 10, 1999
Last updated : August 20, 2004

The wooly mammoth probably originated in north-central Eurasia, spreading westward to England and Spain and eastward via the Bering Isthumus to the tundra-like regions of North America from Alaska to the Atlantic Coastal Shelf.

A great deal is known about its appearance due to the discovery of several wll-preserved carcasses in frozen ground in Siberia and from the study of many detailed carvings, engravings and murals by Stone Age (Paleolithic) artists.

Often used as a symbol of the ice age, the wooly mammoth reached the size of Asiatic elephants to which it is closely related. Derived from steppe mammoths, wooly mammoths were first recorded in deposits if the second last glaction 150,000 years ago in Eurasia. As time progressed its physical characteristics changed in order for it to survive under increasingly cold conditions.

In Canada, it is known to have existed in all areas escept Quebec, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfounland. One of Canada's best specimens is a skeleton of an adult female from Whitestone River YK, that is about 30,000 years old.