7" Fossil Southern Mammoth Molar

Mammuthus meridionalis, or the southern mammoth, is an extinct species of mammoth endemic to Europe and central Asia from the Gelasian stage of the Early Pleistocene, living from 2.5 to 1.5 million years ago. M. meridionalis is one of the largest proboscideans to have ever lived, estimated about 4 meters (13 feet) tall and weighing 8 to 10 tons. Its molars had low crowns and a small number of thick enamel ridges, adapted to a woodland diet of leaves and shrubs. This indicates it lived in a relatively warm climate and probably lacked the dense fur of the more recent Woolly Mammoth.