Mammuthus meridionalis

Common card · No. 455158

Mammuthus meridionalis, sometimes called the southern mammoth (in reference to the species name meridionalis, which is Latin for "southern"), is an extinct species of mammoth native to Eurasia during the Early Pleistocene. Reaching a size exceeding modern elephants, unlike later Eurasian mammoth species, it was largely native to temperate climates and probably did not have a thick layer of fur. First appearing around 2.5 million years ago, probably descending from Mammuthus rumanus, it survived latest in Europe until around 800,000 years ago when it was replaced by the steppe mammoth (Mammuthus trogontherii) and the straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus). It is the likely ancestor of the dwarf Mammuthus creticus on the island of Crete.

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