This group, called proboscideans, can be traced back to 55 million years ago. Although related, mammoths, mastodonts and elephants are from different branches of this proboscidean ancestral tree. The first mammoths developed in Africa and soon ranged into Europe and Siberia. The ancestral mammoth, M. meridionalis, reached North America about 1.7 million years ago. Of the four proboscidean species pictured above, only the Columbian and the woolly have been found at the Hot Springs Mammoth Site.
Mammoth teeth are fascinating, revealing the animal's age and specie.
With four functional shoe-box sized teeth in their mouth, two upper and two lower, a mammoth chewed approximately 700 pounds of vegetation daily. Over the years, these molars began to wear and break apart. Behind the worn teeth, in both the jaw and skull, new teeth formed. Slowly advancing, the new teeth gradually pushed out the old set. Similar to a forward moving conveyor belt, the new teeth moved into position.