About a quarter of the length was inside the sockets. Largest European specimen, a male at Sdostbayerisches Naturkunde- und Mammut-Museum, This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 14:55. [1] Woolly mammoths entered North America about 100,000 years ago by crossing the Bering Strait. From their shape, the two oldest teeth looked like they belonged to steppe mammoths, a European species that researchers think pre-dated woolly mammoths and Columbian mammoths ( Mammuthus. Mastodons weighed between 5 to 8 tons and grew up to about 2.3 to 2.8 meters at the shoulder. The first recorded use of the word as an adjective was in a description of a wheel of cheese (the "Cheshire Mammoth Cheese") given to Jefferson in 1802. Some postcranial remains were found, some with soft tissue. The adults had a stride of 2m (6.6ft), and the juveniles ran to keep up. Another possible origin is Estonian, where maa means "earth", and mutt means "mole". The oldest preserved mammoth DNA, which also has the distinction of being the oldest knownanimalDNA, dates back to more than one million years ago and may belong to a direct ancestor of the woolly mammoth. Woolly mammoth bones were made into various tools, furniture, and musical instruments. How big are the teeth of a mammoth? The resulting calf would have the genes of the woolly mammoth, although its fetal environment would be different. [119], Before their extinction, the Wrangel Island mammoths had accumulated numerous genetic defects due to their small population; in particular, a number of genes for olfactory receptors and urinary proteins became nonfunctional, possibly because they had lost their selective value on the island environment. [115], The decline of the woolly mammoth could have increased temperatures by up to 0.2C (0.36F) at high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. [3] Sloane turned to another biblical explanation for the presence of elephants in the Arctic, asserting that they had been buried during the Great Flood, and that Siberia had previously been tropical before a drastic climate change. [143], In 1997, a piece of mammoth tusk was discovered protruding from the tundra of the Taymyr Peninsula in Siberia, Russia. Today, it is still in great demand as a replacement for the now-banned export of elephant ivory, and has been referred to as "white gold". Im shopping for a mammoth tooth online, where I have no way of assessing the seller. The time and resources required would be enormous, and the scientific benefits would be unclear, suggesting these resources should instead be used to preserve extant elephant species which are endangered. Woolly Mammoth Hair $55.00 Real Woolly Mammoth hair, Mammuthus primigenius, from Siberia. Many mammoth carcasses may have been scavenged by humans rather than hunted. Some cave paintings show woolly mammoths with small or no tusks, but whether this reflected reality or was artistic license is unknown. [89] A depiction in the Cave of El Castillo may instead show Palaeoloxodon, the "straight-tusked elephant". Most specimens have partially degraded before discovery, due to exposure or to being scavenged. It was covered in fur, with an outer covering of long guard hairs and a shorter undercoat. As it is now unavailable, it can only be obtained by trading or hatching any remaining Fossil Eggs. There is not enough to guide the production of an embryo. Posted September 12, 2011 That is an exceptional tooth with very little wear on the crown and pretty complete roots. $12.11 + $9.08 shipping. The numbers likely varied by season and lifecycle events. [4], Others interpreted Sloane's conclusion slightly differently, arguing the flood had carried elephants from the tropics to the Arctic. [78], Modern humans co-existed with woolly mammoths during the Upper Palaeolithic period when the humans entered Europe from Africa between 30,000 and 40,000 years ago. How big was a mammoth compared to an elephant? The latter condition could extend the lifespan of the individual, unless the tooth consisted of only a few plates. "The Jarkov Mammoth: 20,000-Year-Old carcass of a Siberian woolly mammoth, Staatliches Museum fr Naturkunde Stuttgart, Musum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, Zoological Museum of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, "An Account of Elephants Teeth and Bones Found under Ground", "Of Fossile Teeth and Bones of Elephants. This tooth is suspected to be over 20,000 years old. [142] Since 1860, Russian authorities have offered rewards of up to 1000 for finds of frozen woolly mammoth carcasses. About 1.4 million DNA nucleotide differences were found between mammoths and elephants, which affect the sequence of more than 1,600 proteins. [14], Osborn chose two molars (found in Siberia and Osterode) from Blumenbach's collection at Gttingen University as the lectotype specimens for the woolly mammoth, since holotype designation was not practised in Blumenbach's time. Regional and intermediate species and subspecies such as M. intermedius, M. chosaricus, M. p. primigenius, M. p. jatzkovi, M. p. sibiricus, M. p. fraasi, M. p. leith-adamsi, M. p. hydruntinus, M. p. astensis, M. p. americanus, M. p. compressus and M. p. alaskensis have been proposed. 3. The resulting offspring would be an elephantmammoth hybrid, and the process would have to be repeated so more hybrids could be used in breeding. A January Fossil of the Month. They are also not as common. [149] "Lyuba" is believed to have been suffocated by mud in a river that its herd was crossing. During his return voyage, he purchased a pair of tusks that he believed were the ones that Shumachov had sold. I know that it is pretty much universally hated by the fandom, but the designs from the 2013 walking with dinosaurs movie were very accurate for the time. Sometimes, the replacement was disrupted, and the molars were pushed into abnormal positions, but some animals are known to have survived this. Mike and Padi Anderson's trawler brings up fish, shrimp, scallops, squid -- and now, a woolly mammoth tooth.The New Hampshire couple acquired the Pleistocene prize on Feb. 19, when Mike found it in a pile of scallop shells and rocks that had been picked up in the boat's nets. Kardulias, the professor, confirmed to CNN affiliate WJW that he and a colleague believe the 12-year-old did in fact discover a mammoth tooth. Its skull and pelvis had been removed prior to discovery, but were found nearby. Mammoth Carving Pendent (Moose-antler body with mammoth-tusk tusks) $225.00 $145.00 Sold out Mammoth Ivory Scales for making 1911 Pistol Grips $199.00 $199.00 Sold out On Sale On Sale Double Mammoth Carving with Mammoth Ivory Tusks $250.00 $125.00 Sold out On Sale On Sale Double Mammoth Carving with Real Mammoth Ivory Tusks . One third of a replica of the mammoth in the Museum of Zoology of St. Petersburg is covered in skin and hair of the "Berezovka mammoth". [2] The first woolly mammoth remains studied by European scientists were examined by Hans Sloane in 1728 and consisted of fossilised teeth and tusks from Siberia. The earliest European mammoth has been named M. rumanus; it spread across Europe and China. Woolly mammoths were very important to ice age humans, and human survival may have depended on the mammoth in some areas. [68][69], Woolly mammoths continued growing past adulthood, like other elephants. Before this, Neanderthals had co-existed with mammoths during the Middle Palaeolithic and already used mammoth bones for tool-making and building materials. Many are certainly known to have been killed in rivers, perhaps through being swept away by floods. Medium size "ok" condition teeth routinely go for about $300 Posted September 12, 2011 For hundreds of thousands of years, the woolly, northern or Siberian mammoths, were inhabiting the vast permafrost plains of the Arctic. The crown was continually pushed forwards and up as it wore down, comparable to a conveyor belt. . The arrangement of dwellings varied, and ranged from 1 to 20m (3.3 to 65.6ft) apart, depending on location. The "fence post" Bristle found turned out to be a part of a skeleton of a woolly mammoth that roamed the Earth between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago. [19][20] A 2015 DNA review confirmed Asian elephants as the closest living relative of the woolly mammoth. A mound of fat, which served as an energy and water reserve, was present as a hump on the back. Female Asian elephants have no tusks, but no fossil evidence indicates that any adult woolly mammoths lacked them. Cox created the auction for the tooth earlier this week on eBay and set the starting bid at $700. He says other fishermen have pulled up similar fossils, but few as well preserved as this one. View a mammoth skeleton, and compare the mastodon . We acquire our fossil mammoth tusks directly from Siberia, the Netherlands, and Alaska and they are professionally restored in our facility. Several methods have been proposed to achieve this. It features a faint reddish-brown body with dark-colored fur covering it. [90], "Portable art" can be more accurately dated than cave art since it is found in the same deposits as tools and other ice age artefacts. [61] Isotope analysis shows that woolly mammoths fed mainly on C3 plants, unlike horses and rhinos. [40] In 2019, a group of researchers managed to obtain signs of biological activity after transferring nuclei of "Yuka" into mouse oocytes. It was discovered at the Siberian Berezovka River (after a dog had noticed its smell), and the Russian authorities financed its excavation. Fully grown males reached shoulder heights between 2.7 and 3.4m (8.9 and 11.2ft) and weighed up to 6 tonnes (6.6 short tons). The species is named for the appearance of its long thick coat of fur. A mammoth had six sets of molars throughout a lifetime, which were replaced five times, though a few specimens with a seventh set are known. [53] The woolly mammoth is considered to have had the most complex molars of any elephant.[50]. What makes this megafauna mammal truly worthy of attention is its huge, curving canines, which measured close to 12 inches in the largest smilodon species. [97][151] After being discovered, the skin of "Yuka" was prepared to produce a taxidermy mount. Remains of various extinct elephants were known by Europeans for centuries, but were generally interpreted, based on biblical accounts, as the remains of legendary creatures such as behemoths or giants. Scientific evidence suggests that small populations of woolly mammoths may have survived in mainland North America until between 10,500 and 7,600 years ago. [137] In more recent years, scientific expeditions have been devoted to finding carcasses instead of relying solely on chance encounters. [9], Where and how the word "mammoth" originated is unclear. The trunk could be used for pulling off large grass tufts, delicately picking buds and flowers, and tearing off leaves and branches where trees and shrubs were present. [64][150] After death, its body may have been colonised by bacteria that produce lactic acid, which "pickled" it, preserving the mammoth in a nearly pristine state. Items 1 - 12 of 48. Mammoths were heavier, weighing between 5.4 to 13 tons, with an adult height between 2.5 to four meters at the shoulder. [156][157], A second method involves artificially inseminating an elephant egg cell with sperm cells from a frozen woolly mammoth carcass. It's thought woolly rhinos went extinct around 10,000 years ago. This name is Latin for "the first-born elephant". [157][164][165] The ethics of using elephants as surrogate mothers in hybridisation attempts has been questioned, as most embryos would not survive, and knowing the exact needs of a hybrid elephantmammoth calf would be impossible. The two groups are speculated to be divergent enough to be characterised as subspecies. The analysis showed that the woolly mammoth and the African elephant are 98.55% to 99.40% identical. The appearance and behaviour of this species are among the best studied of any prehistoric animal because of the discovery of frozen carcasses in Siberia and North America, as well as skeletons, teeth, stomach contents, dung, and depiction from life in prehistoric cave paintings. Justin Blauwet found the. Most of the skin on the head as well as the trunk had been scavenged by predators, and most of the internal organs had rotted away. The specimen was nicknamed the "Jarkov mammoth". According to multiple Anchorage ivory buyers, the wholesale price for mammoth ivory ranges from roughly $50 per pound to $125 per pound. size: 5" x 3.25" x 5.25" This Columbian Mammoth molar came from the coastal region of South Carolina. An EXTRA LARGE, incredibly preserved Woolly Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), an early elephant, molar found in the Dogger Bank, North Sea. Evidence for such co-existence was not recognised until the 19th century. The carcasses were in most cases decayed, and the stench so unbearable that only wild scavengers and the dogs accompanying the finders showed any interest in the flesh. A large sample. [10] It may be a version of mehemot, the Arabic version of the biblical word "behemoth". Its internal organs are similar to those of modern elephants, but its ears are only one-tenth the size of those of an African elephant of similar age. [147][148] At the time of discovery, its eyes and trunk were intact and some fur remained on its body. [58][59] A 2019 study of the woolly mammoth mitogenome suggest that these had metabolic adaptations related to extreme environments. [152], In 2013, a well-preserved carcass was found on Maly Lyakhovsky Island, one of the islands in the New Siberian Islands archipelago, a female between 50 and 60 years old at the time of death. The woolly mammoth chewed its food by using its powerful jaw muscles to move the mandible forwards and close the mouth, then backwards while opening; the sharp enamel ridges thereby cut across each other, grinding the food. The tusks were used for obtaining food in other ways, such as digging up plants and stripping off bark. The Woolly Mammoth is a limited rare pet that was released in Adopt Me! When did the saber tooth tiger go extinct? The small ears reduced heat loss and frostbite, and the tail was short for the same reason, only 36cm (14in) long in the "Berezovka mammoth". [88], The woolly mammoth is the third-most depicted animal in ice age art, after horses and bison, and these images were produced between 35,000 and 11,500 years ago. Other evidence suggests that woolly mammoths persisted until 5,600 years ago on St. Paul Island, Alaska, in the Bering Sea andas late as 4,300 years ago on Wrangel Island, anArcticisland located off the coast of northern Russia, beforesuccumbingtoextinctionfrom inbreedingand loss of geneticdiversity. This is later than in modern elephants and may be due to a higher risk of predator attack or difficulty in obtaining food during the long periods of winter darkness at high latitudes. Calves developed small milk tusks a few centimetres long at six months old, which were replaced by permanent tusks a year later. [129][130] Studies of an 11,30011,000-year-old trackway in south-western Canada showed that M. primigenius was in decline while coexisting with humans, since far fewer tracks of juveniles were identified than would be expected in a normal herd. Mammoth ivory looks similar to elephant ivory, but the former is browner and the Schreger lines are coarser in texture. with great ROOTS preserved!36. [173][174][175] Observers have interpreted legends from several Native American peoples as containing folk memory of extinct elephants, though other scholars are skeptical that folk memory could survive such a long time. Omissions? [1][27] The short and tall skulls of woolly and Columbian mammoths (Mammuthus columbi) were the culmination of this process. [92], Woolly mammoth ivory was used to create art objects. on October 10, 2020. Woolly Rhinoceros. William Buckland published his discovery of the Red Lady of Paviland skeleton in 1823, which was found in a cave alongside woolly mammoth bones, but he mistakenly denied that these were contemporaries. Female tusks were smaller and thinner, 1.51.8m (4.95.9ft) and weighing 9kg (20lb). Only its molars are known, which show that it had 810 enamel ridges. In most cases, the flesh showed signs of decay before its freezing and later desiccation. Such fossils are usually fragmentary and contain no soft tissue. A woolly mammoth tooth found off the coast of Newburyport, Mass., sold at auction for more than $10,000. woolly mammoth, (Mammuthus primigenius), also called northern mammoth or Siberian mammoth, extinct species of elephant found in fossil deposits of thePleistocene and Holocene epochs(from about 2.6 million years ago to the present) inEurope,northern Asia, and North America. Height; 4 metres high at the shoulder. Click to enlarge. [76], Distortion in the molars is the most common health problem found in woolly mammoth fossils. How big is a woolly mammoth tooth? The Taymyr Peninsula, with its drier habitat, may have served as a refugium for the mammoth steppe, supporting mammoths and other widespread Ice Age mammals such as wild horses (Equus sp.). Soviet palaeontologist Vera Gromova further proposed the former should be considered the lectotype with the latter as paralectotype. The origin of these remains was long a matter of debate, and often explained as being remains of legendary creatures. [171], The indigenous peoples of North America used woolly mammoth ivory and bone for tools and art. Picture Information. Woolly mammoths were the same size as today's African elephants. [74] An abnormal number of cervical vertebrae has been found in 33% of specimens from the North Sea region, probably due to inbreeding in a declining population. A newborn calf would have weighed about 90kg (200lb). Adams brought all to the Zoological Museum of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the task of mounting the skeleton was given to Wilhelm Gottlieb Tilesius. A newborn calf weighed about 90kg (200lb). The ridges were wear-resistant to enable the animal to chew large quantities of food, which often contained grit. When it comes to a woolly mammoth vs mastodon, woolly mammoths were taller and heavier. [167] In 2021, an Austin-based company raised funds to reintroduce the species in the Arctic tundra. The hairs on the upper leg were up to 38cm (15in) long, and those of the feet were 15cm (5.9in) long, reaching the toes. The Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) lived alongside the woolly mammoth in North America, and DNA studies show that the two hybridised with each other. According to the Jacksonville Zoo, the woolly mammoth lived in North America and Asia until about 4,000 years ago. [13] Mammoth taxonomy was simplified by various researchers from the 1970s onwards, all species were retained in the genus Mammuthus, and many proposed differences between species were instead interpreted as intraspecific variation. Add to Wish List. Their skin was no thicker than that of present-day elephants, between 1.25 and 2.5cm (0.49 and 0.98in). Some accumulations are thought to be the remains of herds that died together at the same time, perhaps due to flooding. ", "Anatomy, death, and preservation of a woolly mammoth (, 11370/a3961dcc-4eaf-47fb-9ad7-904d79a0f4f8, "Mammoth ivory was the most suitable osseous raw material for the production of Late Pleistocene big game projectile points", "A Mammoth Find: Clues to the Past, Present and Future", "Extraordinary incidence of cervical ribs indicates vulnerable condition in Late Pleistocene mammoths", "Ecological Structure of Recent and Last Glacial Mammalian Faunas in Northern Eurasia: The Case of Altai-Sayan Refugium", "Fifty thousand years of Arctic vegetation and megafaunal diet", "The Padul mammoth finds On the southernmost record of, "Intraspecific phylogenetic analysis of Siberian woolly mammoths using complete mitochondrial genomes", "Out of America: Ancient DNA Evidence for a New World Origin of Late Quaternary Woolly Mammoths", "Mammoths used as food and building resources by Neanderthals: Zooarchaeological study applied to layer 4, Molodova I (Ukraine)", "The earliest direct evidence of mammoth hunting in Central Europe", "Woolly mammoth carcass may have been cut into by humans", "Collapse of the mammoth-steppe in central Yukon as revealed by ancient environmental DNA", "Climate Change, Humans, and the Extinction of the Woolly Mammoth", "5,700-Year-Old Mammoth Remains from the Pribilof Islands, Alaska: Last Outpost of North America Megafauna", "Timing and causes of mid-Holocene mammoth extinction on St. Paul Island, Alaska", "Mammoths still walked the earth when the Great Pyramid was being built", "Pleistocene to Holocene extinction dynamics in giant deer and woolly mammoth", "Radiocarbon Dating Evidence for Mammoths on Wrangel Island, Arctic Ocean, until 2000 BC", "Microsatellite genotyping reveals end-Pleistocene decline in mammoth autosomal genetic variation", "Late Quaternary dynamics of Arctic biota from ancient environmental genomics", "Complete Genomes Reveal Signatures of Demographic and Genetic Declines in the Woolly Mammoth", "Lonely end for the world's last woolly mammoths", "Temporal genetic change in the last remaining population of woolly mammoth", "Excess of genomic defects in a woolly mammoth on Wrangel Island", "Thriving or surviving? The composition and exact varieties differed from location to location. In mammals, recessive Mc1r alleles result in light hair. ", "Henry Tukeman: Mammoth's Roar was Heard All The Way to the Smithsonian", Natural History Museum: "The last of the mammoths", National Geographic: "Mammoth tusk treasure hunt", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Woolly_mammoth&oldid=1142280716, Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using multiple image with auto scaled images, Taxonbars with automatically added original combinations, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. Mammoth & Mastodon Shark Teeth By Species. A correlation between the number of mammoths depicted and the species that were most often hunted does not seem to exist, since reindeer bones are the most frequently found animal remains at the site. The woolly mammoth was known for its large size, fur, and imposing tusks. It is a tooth of a sub-adult mammoth which lived in the late Pleistocene Ice Age some 20,000 plus years ago. In addition to the technical problems, not much habitat is left that would be suitable for elephant-mammoth hybrids. When it was extracted from the ice, liquid blood spilled from the abdominal cavity. Females averaged 2.6-2.9 m (8.5-9.5 ft) in height and weighed up to 4 tons (4.4 short tons). Dark bands correspond to summers, so determining the season in which a mammoth died is possible. Oddly enough, though, these monstrous teeth were surprisingly brittle and easily broken, and were often . $0.01 + $55.00 shipping. Extinct species of mammoth from the Quaternary period, Head of the adult male "Yukagir mammoth"; the trunk is not preserved, Various prehistoric depictions of woolly mammoths, including, Artifacts made from woolly mammoth ivory; The. The entire expedition took 10 months, and the specimen had to be cut to pieces before it could be transported to St. Petersburg. They calculated the ages of the teeth to 1.65 million, 1.34 million and 870,000 years, making it the oldest DNA sequenced . The tusks grew spirally in opposite directions from the base and continued in a curve until the tips pointed towards each other, sometimes crossing. Genetic evidence suggests that woolly mammoths spread to Europe about 200,000 years ago and from Asia across the Bering Land Bridge to North America about 125,000 years ago. This is consistent with a previous observation that mice lacking active TRPV3 are likely to spend more time in cooler cage locations than wild-type mice, and have wavier hair. For comparison, the record for longest tusks of the African bush elephant is 3.4m (11ft). The sheaths of the tusks were parallel and spaced closely. A man found a woolly mammoth tooth while on a construction site in the city of Sheldon, Iowa. "This DNA is incredibly old. It may have died of asphyxiation, as indicated by its erect penis. As teeth are replaced, each successive tooth is larger and composed of more plates. [60], Food at various stages of digestion has been found in the intestines of several woolly mammoths, giving a good picture of their diet. [71], The best-preserved head of a frozen adult specimen, that of a male nicknamed the "Yukagir mammoth", shows that woolly mammoths had temporal glands between the ear and the eye. [183] Bernard Heuvelmans included the possibility of residual populations of Siberian mammoths in his 1955 book, On The Track Of Unknown Animals; while his book was a systematic investigation into possible unknown species, it became the basis of the cryptozoology movement.[186]. The woolly mammoth, scientific name Mammuthus primigenius, is related to the modern African and Asian elephants. Fur Mammoths had sparse to woolly fur and a short tail, unlike the long, brown, shaggy fur of the long and hairy-tailed mastodons. Their fur may have helped in spreading the scent further. [72] This feature indicates that, like bull elephants, male woolly mammoths entered "musth", a period of heightened aggressiveness. The most famous frozen specimen from Alaska is a calf nicknamed "Effie", which was found in 1948. A Siberian specimen with a spearhead embedded in its shoulder blade shows that a spear had been thrown at it with great force. Honestly they look more like designs from the late 2010s compared to the general consensus at the time [56], The woolly mammoth was probably the most specialised member of the family Elephantidae. Several alterations in circadian clock genes were found, perhaps needed to cope with the extreme polar variation in length of daylight. The largest known male tusk is 4.2m (14ft) long and weighs 91kg (201lb), but 2.42.7m (7.98.9ft) and 45kg (99lb) was a more typical size. The woolly mammoth was well adapted to the cold environment during the last ice age. The expansion could be used to melt snow if a shortage of water to drink existed, as melting it directly inside the mouth could disturb the thermal balance of the animal. The expansion identified on the trunk of "Yuka" and other specimens was suggested to function as a "fur mitten"; the trunk tip was not covered in fur, but was used for foraging during winter, and could have been heated by curling it into the expansion. [47] A 2014 study instead indicated that the colouration of an individual varied from nonpigmented on the overhairs, bicoloured, nonpigmented and mixed red-brown guard hairs, and nonpigmented underhairs, which would give a light overall appearance. In the remaining part of the tusk, each major line represents a year, and weekly and daily ones can be found in between. Pres. It is unknown whether the two species were sympatric and lived there simultaneously, or if the woolly mammoths may have entered these southern areas during times when Columbian mammoth populations were absent there. Most intact mammoths have had little usable DNA because of their conditions of preservation. Unlike the trunk lobes of modern elephants, the upper "finger" at the tip of the trunk had a long pointed lobe and was 10cm (3.9in) long, while the lower "thumb" was 5cm (2.0in) and was broader. Female woolly mammoths reached 2.62.9m (8.59.5ft) in shoulder heights and were built more lightly than males, weighing up to 4 tonnes (4.4 short tons). The woolly mammoth tooth has been put up for auction on eBay, where it has already received over 50 bids. They had a yellowish brown undercoat about 2.5 cm (about 1 inch) thick beneath a coarser outer covering of dark brown hair that grew more than 70 cm (27.5 inches) long in some individuals. The trunk of "Dima" was 76cm (2.49ft) long, whereas the trunk of the adult "Liakhov mammoth" was 2 metres (6.6ft) long. [182], There have been occasional claims that the woolly mammoth is not extinct and that small, isolated herds might survive in the vast and sparsely inhabited tundra of the Northern Hemisphere. A French charg d'affaires working in Vladivostok, M. Gallon, said in 1946 that in 1920, he had met a Russian fur-trapper who claimed to have seen living giant, furry "elephants" deep into the taiga.