|
|
|
RARE COLUMBIAN MAMMOTH LOWER MOLAR TOOTH Santa Fe River - Florida, U.S.A. MIDDLE TO LATE PLEISTOCENE PERIOD: 700,000 - 11,000 years ago Mammoth teeth from the North American giant Columbian Mammoth Mammuthus columbi, are extremely rare in the open market. While very large, HIGH grade Woolly Mammoth teeth are rather hard to come by, ANY quality of the larger Columbian Mammoth are far more rare. This is a unique opportunity to acquire a fine specimen and only one of a very few high quality examples we have had to offer. This rare lower molar of a Columbian Mammoth, is of a beautiful brown color as a result of the unique chemistry in the river bottom from which it was found. The chewing cusps are lined in a beautiful contrasting ivory white and caramel natural colors adding immense appeal. This lower molar was found in association with the upper molar LM8-037 from the same Mammoth. The tooth was found in a few pieces. The breaks were clean and went between the vertical panels of the molar. The repair did not require any fabrication and the entire tooth you see is completely genuine and original. Superb root detail as well as plate structures can be seen. A large chewing surface is well displayed. This is not a spit tooth and the mammoth died with this tooth in its jaw since we have the presence of a partial root system. Overall, this RARE specimen offers stunning preservation. NO FABRICATION - 100% GENUINE. Entire tooth is extremely solid and heavily mineralized of substantial weight. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED and a ONE-OF-A-KIND EXAMPLE! Emerging 55 million years ago, the group of mammals called Proboscideans are identified by the presence of tusks and a trunk and include mammoths, mastodons and elephants. The oldest mammoth remains have placed the beginnings of the beasts in Africa but eventually, they migrated to Europe and Asia. The Columbian Mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) was a massive Ice Age beast and a descendent of Mammuthus meridionalis, an earlier species that migrated across the Bering Land Bridge into North America around one million years ago. The Columbian Mammoth ranged from Alaska to Florida and as far south as Mexico and Central America. While most think of the Woolly Mammoth to be large, it was not and especially when standing alongside the giant Columbian Mammoth. The Columbian Mammoth stood almost 14 feet at the shoulder as opposed to the Woolly Mammoth who stood only about 9 feet at the shoulder. The Columbian Mammoth weighed about 8-10 tons and could consume about 700 pounds of vegetation a day. The life span for a Columbian Mammoth was 60 to 80 years. The Columbian Mammoth was the first immigrant lineage of mammoths into North America. They became extinct 11,000 years ago along with all other Proboscideans in North America. Associated Paleo-Indian stone tools have been found at some fossil sites indicating these massive beasts were hunted by early North American Indians. Mammoths were herbivores. Their teeth were huge flat molars with a surface that was ideally suited to grinding up hard-to-digest foods such as tough grasses and other thick vegetation. The teeth of a mammoth are amongst the most bizarre teeth of any animal ever known. From the side, they resemble an extended accordion and are made up of a row of vertically oriented attached plates that when worn, create a washboard-like grinding surface. A mammoth has four teeth in its skull, two uppers (one on each side) and two lowers. Over the course of the life of the animal, six sets of teeth will grow, a worn set being pushed forward and out to make room for a new and unworn set. This characteristic is still true of modern elephants. A baby mammoth at age 6 will have already had three sets of teeth. By 13 years of age, the fourth set emerges followed by a fifth set at age 27 years. The final set of teeth come in around 43 years of age and as it wears away, the animal eventually starves to death and dies on average between 60 and 80 years of age. Interestingly, the animal's life is limited by the fact that after the sixth set, no new teeth grow in to replace the final worn down set and the animal is no longer able to chew its food. Mammoth teeth can also tell us the age and species of the creature. Scientists can approximate age by comparing the length and width of the molars to corresponding age and tooth size charts from modern elephants. The species is determined by the number of ridges found in the first four inches of the flat chewing surface. RARE FROM THE LARGEST MAMMOTH - BEAUTIFUL HUE WITH FINE CHEWING SURFACE AND ROOT! 11" long SOLD LM8-038 INCLUDES STAND Actual Item - One Only |
|
|
|
1295 |
