elephants

Extensive archaeological and anthropological data suggest that the first humans entered the Americas about 15,000 years ago from Asia to Alaska. A 130,000-year-old mastodon skeleton discovered in suburban San Diego shows signs of butchery only associated with ancient humans.

The last populations of woolly mammoths lived on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean off the coast of Siberia. Comparison of specimens from Wrangel Island and the Siberian mainland show that the island populations accumulated a number of genetic mutations that would adversely affect the last living mammoths.

Mammoths, among the largest proboscideans to ever roam the northern hemisphere, hailed from modern day’s Africa. The giants branched out from the relatively smaller African mammoth (Mammuthus africanavus), and adapted to live in many different environments.