While similar to the mammoth, mastodons are different as they are bigger and lived at other points in time on Earth.
Unlike modern-day elephants, Mastodons had smaller ears and foreheads and were covered in a thick layer of brown hair.
The hair on their coats could grow up to 35 inches long, and the males’ tusks had a max length of 8 feet. Female mastodons did not have tusks.
They also stood between 8 and 10 feet tall and weighed between 4 to 6 tons. In terms of their size and height, they are similar to modern elephants that are 5 to 14 feet tall and weigh 3 to 7 tons.
Mastodons roamed primarily around North and Central America but could be found across the world besides Antarctica and Australia.
They usually lived in spruce woodlands around valleys and swamps and ate an herbivore diet. Their name comes from the shape of their teeth.
Mastodons also had tusks, flappy ears, and a long nose and shared the same order as the mammoth, Proboscidea (from the Greek word proboskis, meaning nose).
Mastodon fossils, however, are pretty rare due to scavengers preventing the bones from becoming fossilized. Therefore, it was somewhat surprising when a child found a mastodon fossil simply on a hike with his family.
10 /10 Dragon’s Tooth?
Dinosaur Hill Nature Preserve in Michigan is a place where kids can explore and interact with nature.
When six-year-old Julian Gagnon was out on a hike with his family in September, he saw something he thought was a dragon’s tooth, or perhaps even a dinosaur tooth.
While walking, Julian found a huge molar tooth after having his foot hit it.
9 /10 Not A Dinosaur
While his family initially thought it may have been a dinosaur tooth, a Google search soon turned up that tooth was a crown molar of a mastodon.
The tooth was quickly given to researchers at the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology (UMMP, where the tooth’s origin was confirmed.