Question: is a mastodon and a wooly mammoth the same thing

Answer: No, The first remnant of Mammut, a tooth some 2.2 kg (5 lb) in weight, was discovered in the village of Claverack, New York, in 1705. The mystery animal became known as the ``incognitum''. The first bones to be collected and studied scientifically were found in 1739 at Big Bone Lick State Park, Kentucky, by French soldiers, who carried them to the Mississippi River, from where they were transported to the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. Some time later, similar teeth were found in South Carolina, which, according to the slaves, looked remarkably similar to those of African elephants. This was soon followed by discoveries of complete bones and tusks in Ohio; people started referring to the ``incognitum'' as a mammoth, like the ones that were being dug out in Siberia. Anatomists noted that the teeth of mammoth and elephants were different from those of the ``incognitum'', which possessed rows of large conical cusps, indicating that they were dealing with a distinct species. In 1806 the French anatomist Georges Cuvier named the incognitum ``mastodon''.