Woolly mammoths seem to loom out of a stone age pre-history and it is sometimes difficult to realise that they only went finally extinct some 10,000 years ago. But this particular skeleton comes from the time when Neanderthals were a common sight.
Mammuthus primigenius: Wikipedia
Mammuthus primigenius
A nearly complete mammoth skeleton has just been uncovered at Changis-sur-Marne in the Seine-et-Marne department. This type of discovery, in its original context, is exceptional in France since only three specimens have been found in 150 years: the first such discovery, known as “the mammoth of Choulans”, was discovered in Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon in 1859.
This mammoth is probably a Mammuthus primigenius, a woolly mammoth with long tusks that were used to expose edible vegetation under the snow. These animals could reach 2.8 to 3.4 metres high at their withers and were covered with fur and a thick layer of fat. The mammoth of Changis-sur-Marne existed between 200,000 and 50,000 years ago, at the same time as Neanderthals. Mammoths were well adapted to cold climates and thus disappeared from western Europe 10,000 years ago when the climate became warmer. The most recent specimen died off the coast of the Bering Strait, 3700 years ago. ….
The k2p blog 