A donated Mastodon molar in the ABDSP Collection.

What is a Mastodon?

North American Mastodons go by the genus name  Mammut. Mastodons evolved from gomphotheres about 20 million years ago and survived well into the last Ice Age.  

A slightly smaller (6-10') and stockier animal,  mastodons had flatter heads than mammoths. And the teeth of mastodons were cusped - well-adapted to grinding the leaves of plants.

A molar in the mandible of Mammuthus meridionalis collected in ABDSP

What is a Mammoth?

North American Mammoths go by the genus nameMammuthus and begin to show up in the fossil record about 2 million years ago. Along with Mastodons, they also survived into the last Ice Age.

Mammoths are large elephants with flatter teeth adapted to grazing on grasses, sedges and other plants.

Mammoths are known in both:

• the harsh northern climates - Woolly Mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius, 
• and in the warmer, southern climates - Mammuthus meridionalis and Mammuthus columbi. In ABDSP we have both of these mammoths.

Above, this Velizar Simeonovski illustration shows, from back to front, a Columbian mammoth, an African elephant and an American mastodon next to a 6-foot-tall human.

Image from the Field Museum http://fieldmuseum.org/about/traveling-exhibitions/mammoths-and-mastodons