Mammoths, Mastodons, and Elephants: Biology, Behavior and the Fossil Record

The diminishing population of African and Asian elephants can be compared to the extinction of other elephant-like species, such as mammoths and mastodonts, which occurred more than ten thousand years ago. The purpose of this book is to use the ecology and behavior of modern elephants to create models for reconstructing the life and death of extinct mammoths and mastodonts. The source of the models is a long-term and continuing study of elephants in Zimbabwe, Africa. These models are clearly described with respect to the anatomical, behavioral, and ecological similarities between past and present proboscideans. The implications of these similarities on the life and death of mammoths and mastodonts is explored in detail. The importance of this book is primarily its unifying perspective on living and extinct proboscideans: the fossil record is closely examined and compared to the natural history of surviving elephants. Dr. Haynes's studies of the places where African elephants die (so-called elephant burial grounds) are unique.

Uses the ecology and behaviour of modern elephants to create models for reconstructing the life and death of extinct mammoths and mastodons.

The purpose of this book is to examine the ecology and behavior of modern elephants to create models for reconstructing the lives and deaths of extinct mammoths and mastodonts.

This study uses the ecology and behaviour of modern elephants to create models for reconstructing the life and death of extinct mammoths and mastodons.

Preface; Acknowledgements; Part I. Proboscidean Flesh and Bones: 1. Taxonomy: classification of fossil and living forms; 2. Physical appearance: mammoths, mastodonts, and modern elephants; 3. A referential model for understanding mammoths and mastodonts: social structure and habit use by modern elephants; Part II. Actualistic Studies of Proboscidean Mortality: 4. Actualistic studies of mass deaths; 5. Actualistic studies of mass kills; Part III. The Fossil Record: 6. Finding meaning in proboscidean sites: the world fossil record; 7. Extinction in North America at the end of the Pleistocene; Appendix; References; Index.