Inside: Exhibition Introduction & Curriculum Connections

1.   How were pygmy mammoths better adapted to changing climate than larger mammoth species?

 

 Pygmy mammoths were better able to adapt to life on an island because they ate less food and were more agile, and 

thus better able to navigate the hilly terrain. This smaller body size was advantageous on the smaller islands.

2.   How did some mammoths end up living on islands?

 

 Rising sea levels from melting ice sheets trapped some mammoths on islands. Other mammoths swam to islands, like 

California’s Channel Islands.

This atlatl (spear thrower) is a carved reindeer antler in the 

shape of a mammoth. 

© The Trustees of The British Museum / Art Resource

Unlike dinosaurs, mammoths and mastodons lived side-by-side 

with humans. This piece of mammoth ivory, carved in the shape 

of a horse, is one way humans utilized mammoths—as a vehicle 

for art. 

© Reunion des Musees Nationaux / Art Resource

Exhibit Area Overviews 

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Conserving a Legacy: The Surviving Cousins

The cousins of mammoths and mastodons—elephants—are with us today. But for how long? As human 

populations expand into once-wild places, elephant populations in Africa and Asia are declining. Scientists are 

investigating the extinction of mammoths and mastodons to gain insight into the conservation of elephants 

today. Zoologists, park rangers, and everyday people are working around the world to save the last of the great 

proboscideans.

The savanna elephant is one of two 

surviving species of elephant in Africa 

today. The other is the forest elephant. 

Savanna elephants travel in matriarchal 

herds—family groups led by older females. 

Male elephants leave the herd as teenagers 

and live mainly solitary lives. In the late 

1800s, an estimated five million savanna 

elephants roamed Africa. Today there are 

less than half a million, due largely to 

poaching and diminishing habitat caused 

by climate change and competition with 

humans. Savanna elephants are at home 

in the grasslands of Africa, and wild 

populations currently survive in southern 

Africa, eastern Africa, and parts of western 

Africa. African forest elephants, however, 

are at home in the tropical and subtropical forests of Africa. Currently, wild populations of forest elephants live 

in West and Central Africa.

The Asian elephant is the most endangered species of elephant in the world today. Current estimates suggest 

that only about 30,000 Asian elephants survive worldwide. They are at home in tropical and subtropical 

forests of southeast Asia, and current wild populations survive in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, 

Myanmar, Thailand, Loas, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Malaysia and Indonesia. 

Guiding Questions: