For the first time in Mississippi, America, a giant tooth of the mammoth, the ancestor of elephants, i.e., the great-grandfather, the great-grandfather, has been found. This tooth is so big that what would have been the size of the mammoth? It so happened that American citizen Eddie Templeton was trekking in the forests of Mississippi. He is fond of finding old fossils. Then he saw some strange round object under a cliff. At first he thought it was the tail of a giant snake or crocodile.
When Eddie went closer, he was surprised. It was a huge tooth of a giant elephant. It was partially buried in water and partially buried in mud. Sandy soil was deposited on top of it. He immediately called the Mississippi State Geological Survey. He told them the whole matter. Scientists came from the center and examined the tooth.
It was discovered that this tooth, seven feet long and weighing 270 kilograms, belonged to the Columbian Mammoth of the Ice Age. Eddie said that when I came to know that it was a mammoth’s tooth, I jumped with joy. Because I had discovered it. I always wanted to find some part, fossil or organ of a mammoth. But I have made this wonderful and rare discovery.
Geologist James Starnes said that fossils do not remain intact at this place. But this mammoth tooth is almost 100 percent intact. It is extremely large. It seemed to belong to the American relatives of mammoths, the Mastodons. Because these animals were found here during the Ice Age. They could easily find food here. That is why they lived here.
This tooth belongs to the Columbian Mammoth. Which was here during the Pleistocene period. That is, between 26 lakh and 11,700 years. These Mammoths crossed the Bering Land Bridge and migrated to North America 15 lakh years ago. According to the tooth, it seems that this Mammoth must have been at least 15 feet tall. Its weight must have been around 10 tons.
During the Ice Age, mammoths used to roam and live in North America. But as the glaciers started melting, their population started decreasing. Apart from this, they started getting killed due to human hunting. Slowly the entire species became extinct. Columbian mammoths became extinct 13 thousand to 11 thousand years ago.
Whereas, the species of their relative Woolly Mammoth became extinct 6000 years ago. The last Woolly Mammoth died about 3700 years ago in Russia’s Wrangel Island. Its fossil has been found. This island might have been the last place of the Mammoth. After this, Mammoths were never seen in the whole world.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)