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A man who had picked up a sand-covered mass on a beach in Norfolk discovered that it was the molar of an extinct mammoth that could have traveled the Earth 2.5 million years ago. .
- Brad Damms, a resident of Norfolk, found the tooth on a beach located east of Cromer
- The fossil was a molar of a mammoth that lived up to 2.5 million years ago
- Experts have identified the tooth as coming from the southern mammoth
- No hair, they were among the largest elephant-like animals ever to have lived
- The beast would have lived in a warm wood, eating trees like ash and oak
It looked like a sand-covered mass – but amateur paleontologist Brad Damms immediately recognized the discovery he had made on a Norfolk beach like a mammoth tooth.
Experts have identified the fossil molar as coming from a southern mammoth, which would have lived between 2.5 million and 1.5 million years ago.
Unlike woolly mammoths, these animals were hairless, but had large, robust tusks and, like adults, would have grown to about four meters high.
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It looked like a sand-covered mass – but amateur paleontologist Brad Damms immediately recognized the discovery he had made on a Norfolk beach like a mammoth tooth
The partially complete tooth was found Brad Damms, a resident of Norfolk, on the Sidestrand beach, located east of Cromer.
"He was lying on the sand," he said.
"I knew what it was because I'm a member of various fossil Facebook pages, but group experts have confirmed it as part of a southern mammoth tooth.
Mammoths are distant relatives of modern day elephants.
Different mammoth species can be distinguished from each other by counting the number of enamel streaks on their molars.
Primitive species had fewer ridges, their numbers increasing as new species developed and fed on more abrasive foods.
The southern mammoth had 12-14 peaks, a moderate number.
The southern mammoth, Mammuthus meridionalislived in both Europe and Central Asia between around 2.5 and 1.5 million years ago.
Adults of this species could reach a shoulder height of about four meters and would have generally weighed about 10 tonnes (10,000 kilograms).
Southern mammoths are among the largest elephant-like animals ever to have lived.
As is common with mammoths, they had strong, twisted defenses.
Experts have identified the fossil molar as coming from a southern mammoth, which would have lived between 2.5 million and 1.5 million years ago.
The Southern Mammoth was found next to other animal and plant fossils, suggesting that they were living in a time when the climate was relatively mild and about as hot, or slightly warmer , that Europe today.
That being the case, experts believe that he lacked the dense fur of his most famous parent, the woolly mammoth.
This analysis is supported by studies on teeth, similar to that found by Dr. Damms.
Tiny scratches and stings in tooth enamel suggest that creatures lived by grazing the foliage of leaves and shrubs from the woods that would have also lived in a hot climate.
The trees that these mammoths ate would have included ash trees, beeches, hemlocks, hickories and oaks.
Different mammoth species can be distinguished from each other by counting the number of enamel streaks on their molars
The tooth was found Brad Damms, a resident of Norfolk, on Sidestrand Beach (photo), located east of Cromer
It is not known whether the tooth represents the one that the mammoth lost during its lifetime, or whether the mammoth died and the molar represents the only part of its known skeleton that has been discovered.
The mammoth tooth is not the only discovery of Mr. Damms, however.
"I've also found a lot of fossilized bones on Sidestrand," he says.
"But I know that they can be found on the coast up to West Runton.
"The tide is washed daily with fragments of bone and fossilized teeth. It is exciting to wonder what we can find.
The tooth was found Brad Damms, a resident of Norfolk, on the beach of Sidestrand
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT SOUTHERN MAMMOTHES?
A skeleton of a southern mammoth (in the foreground), alongside a woolly mammoth (bottom), exhibited at the National Museum of Natural History of Paris, Paris
The southern mammoth, Mammuthus meridionalislived in both Europe and Central Asia between around 2.5 and 1.5 million years ago.
Mammoths are distant relatives of modern day elephants.
Adults of the species could reach a shoulder height of about 4 meters and would have generally weighed about 10 tons (10,000 kilograms).
Southern mammoths are among the largest elephant-like animals ever to have lived.
As is common with mammoths, they had strong, twisted defenses.
Different mammoth species can be distinguished from each other by counting the number of enamel streaks on their molars.
Primitive species had fewer ridges, their numbers increasing as new species developed and fed on more abrasive foods.
The southern mammoth had 12-14 peaks, a moderate number.
The Southern Mammoth was found next to other animal and plant fossils, suggesting that they were living in a time when the climate was relatively mild and about as hot, or slightly warmer , that Europe today.
That being the case, experts believe that he lacked the dense fur of his most famous parent, the woolly mammoth.
Tiny scratches and stings in tooth enamel suggest that creatures lived by grazing the foliage of leaves and shrubs from the woods that would have also lived in a hot climate.
The trees that these mammoths ate would have included ash trees, beeches, hemlocks, hickories and oaks.
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