Name: The Mammoth Species You've Never Heard Of
Uploaded: undefined
Duration: undefined

NOVA

Remains—particularly teeth—reveal that two species of mammoth once lived in what is now Southern England.

These bones could have belonged to some of the last surviving steppe mammoths in Britain.

The Mammoth Species You've Never Heard Of

Mammoth Species You've Never Heard Of

Carlisle Companies

Viking

NOVA Science Trust Logo

Remains—particularly teeth—reveal that two species of mammoth once lived in what is now Southern England.

These bones could have belonged to some of the last surviving steppe mammoths in Britain.

Ancient Worlds

The Mammoth Species You've Never Heard OfPublished: April 5, 2022David Attenborough: Mammoth evolution expert Steven Zhang is examining the remains found at the site. The teeth have given him a crucial clue.Steven Zhang: Looking at a mammoth tooth is like looking into a barcode for the mammoth itself. We start by counting the number of enamel ridges. So this one has about 18, which is a very typical number for a steppe mammoth. Looking at this piece of tooth, we know that it's a last molar or a wisdom tooth, so we know this was a fully grown adult, except this is one of the smallest steppe mammoth teeth there probably is in existence. It's like finding a German shepherd at the size of a Westie.David Attenborough: These teeth appear to be from a population of small steppe mammoths. Their reduced size could be a consequence of food becoming less abundant.We now know that early mammoths first evolved in Africa around five million years ago, and then spread into Europe and Asia. Around 1.7 million years ago, steppe mammoths evolved that grazed the grassy plains. They then moved into Europe and North America, where Columbian mammoths later appeared. The famous woolly mammoths developed around 700,000 years ago, adapted for colder climates, and they eventually spread first into Europe, and then North America.David Attenborough: If a steppe mammoth was here, now you'd see that it wasn't particularly hairy, a sign that the climate must have been quite temporary. And as for size, well, the female was about my size, male a bit bigger, and the baby, well, I guess like that. Must have been rather enchanting.David Attenborough: There are also remains of another type of mammoth.Steven Zhang: Over here, I would say this is a typical woolly mammoth, so these two different kind of beasts were occurring at the same site. One possibility was that this site was a habitat shared by both steppe and woolly mammoths, or as woolly mammoths migrated westward from Siberia into Europe, they started to mingle with local steppe mammoths. This is interesting because not often do we see a snapshot like this. It's exciting.

United States

Northern Mariana Islands

Puerto Rico

American Samoa

Guam

U.S. Virgin Islands

U.S. Minor Outlying Islands

US & Territories

Colossal explosions shake a remote corner of the Siberian tundra, leaving behind massive craters. In Alaska, a huge lake erupts with bubbles of inflammable gas. Scientists are discovering that these mystifying phenomena add up to a ticking time bomb, as long-frozen permafrost melts and releases vast amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. What are the implications of these dramatic developments in the Arctic? Scientists and local communities alike are struggling to grasp the scale of the methane threat and what it means for our climate future. (Premiered February 2, 2022)

In the Arctic, enormous releases of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, threaten the climate.

Arctic Sinkholes

The top half of Jupiter in blue and green against a night sky

A composite image of Jupiter using images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Jupiter ERS Team; image processing by Judy Schmidt.

Explore the cosmos, delve into ancient history, and follow an extreme rescue with NOVA’s most-watched documentaries released in 2022.

NOVA’s most popular science documentaries of 2022

Four bright orange loops brand off of a dark blue blob

A transmission electron micrograph of HIV-1 virus particles (orange) replicating from the plasma membrane of an infected H9 T cell. Credit: NIAID, Flickr

Scientists have cured a handful of people of HIV by piggybacking on treatments they received for blood cancer. But does that bring a widespread cure any closer?

The Mammoth Species You've Never Heard Of

Support Provided By

Explore More

Woolly Mammoths Probably Died Off By Themselves, Alone On An Isolated Arctic Island

Great Mammoth Mystery

Bringing Back Woolly Mammoths

Transcript

Credits

Support Provided By

Explore More

Woolly Mammoths Probably Died Off By Themselves, Alone On An Isolated Arctic Island

Great Mammoth Mystery

Bringing Back Woolly Mammoths