Dinosaur of the Month:- The Columbian Mammoth
Here is, I believe, the last creature to be added to the Dinosaur of the Month posts, ours (and Lester’s) dear friend Monty and his fellow Columbian Mammoths.
General information:-
Name: Mammuthus columbi.
Phonetic: Mam-mu-fus ko-lum-be
Named by: Hugh Falconer, 1857
Synonyms: Archidiskodon imperator, Elephas eellsi, Elephas floridanus, Elephas imperator, Elephas jacksoni, Elephas jeffersonii, Elephas maibeni, Elephas roosevelti, Elephas washingtonii, Euelephas imperator, Mammuthus imperator, Mammuthus floridanus, Mammuthus imperator, Mammuthus jacksoni, Mammuthus jeffersonii, Parelephas floridanus, Parelephas jacksoni, Parelephas jeffersonii, Parelephas progressus, Parelephas roosevelti, Parelephas washingtonii.
Classification: Chordata, Mammalia, Proboscidea, Elephantidae, Mammuthus.
Species: M. columbi
Diet: Herbivore
Size: Up to 4 metres at the shoulder
Known locations: Canada, USA, Mexico and Nicaragua
Time period: Calabrian through to Tarantian of the Pleistocene. Possibly survived into the early Holocene.
Fossil representation: Multiple specimens.
The above map shows mammoth migration (black arrows) and evolutional relationships between the various species. North American mammoths: Columbian Mammoth (M. columbi), Woolly Mammoth (M. primigenius) and Steppes Mammoth (M. trogontherii).
Links to previous posts:
General information about the Columbian Mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) aka Monty
Primeval: More Facts About The Columbian Mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) aka Monty That Lester Probably Never Wanted To Know
Primeval: Woolly Mammoths vrs Columbian Mammoths
Further to my third post, I have found a paper about the morphology of molars in the mid-western mammoths and that they had a significant amount of overlap between the various species. That is, the main way mammoths had been split into species might not be accurate - multiple morphs within a small geographic area were identified which occurred over too short a time for them to be a new population taking over from an older one. For instance, in Iowa - on the traditional boundary between open grasslands (Columbian territory) and forest steppes (Woolly and Jeffersonian territory) a number of skulls investigated had features of more than species - e.g. Woolly mammoth jaws with Columbian teeth, or Jeffersonian jaws on one side with Woolly on the other.
The suggestion from the paper is that mammoths were a single biological population which could produce viable offspring and that the midwestern mammoths were in the middle of this interbreeding due to them showing characteristics of both populations.
If true, this would mean all mammoths belong to a single population with a number of morphs, each adapted to its environment, such as adapting to the landscape and/or diet.
References:
The Elephantidae - https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/mammal/mesaxonia/elephantidae.php
Mammuthus columbi (Columbian mammoth) - http://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/m/mammuthus-columbi-columbian-mammoth.html
How Many Mammoths? - https://backyardpaleo.wordpress.com/2016/04/22/how-many-mammoths/
The Dinosaur of the month masterlist can be found here: https://primeval-denial.livejournal.com/5537041.html