Notes for the Prehistoric Animals

The Woolly Mammoth:

Was a distant cousin to today's Asian Elephant, they were at least 4 meters tall and weighed 6 tons!
They lived during the Ice Age, and disappeared around 10,000 years ago.
They were covered in a thick furry coat, which kept them warm in the frigid Artic plains.
Even their ears were covered in fur!
They had enormous curved tusks which helped them dig up food and defend themselves.
Many mummified Woolly Mammoths have been found over the years, from Siberia to Alaska, this is how we are able to learn more about these animals.
The first skeleton was found in Russia in 1799, and in 2012, a little Russian boy of 11 years old found a mummified Mammoth that was nicknamed Zhenya.
Cave paintings made by the early humans living during the Ice Age shows that they had a very special relationship with the Woolly Mammoth!

The Stag Moose was hunted by early humans and it is known to have lived in North America until some 10,000 years ago.
Fossils of the Stage Moose, were first uncovered in the early 19th century.
Since then many fossils have been uncovered in North America.
Stag Moose were large animals and were a little bit taller then our modern Moose.
It had a deer-like face but a Moose's body and strange broad antlers that stood out straight from either side of its head.

The first fossil was discovered in 1887, in Argentina
They were the dominant predators in South America 62 million years ago.
The Terror Bird weighed as much as a panda bear, could run faster than a horse and could not fly.
Their nests were on the ground and they had gigantic eggs!
The Terror Bird was a carnivore and loved eating small mammals.

The giant short-faced bear, also called the bulldog bear, lived in North America, 1.8 million years ago.
The first fossils were found in California and unfortunately scientists have not discovered many fossils of this bear.
They lived Mountains and woodlands of North America
The Bulldog bear is the fastest bear that ever existed and could run up to 64 Kilometers per Hour.

The first fossil was discovered in 1788, in Argentina
Megatherium means “giant beast”
They were very common in the Americas, especially South America.
The Sloth could weigh up to 4 tonnes and was as tall as 6m.
It had huge claws, long dark hair and could walk on its back legs just like a bear.
When standing on it back legs, its muscular tail would act like another leg.
Most scientists believe that their diet consisted of leaves, grasses and insects.

Few fossils of the Giant Beaver were ever found, with the first discovered in 1837 in Ohio.
The giant beaver lived in many parts of North America, 1.8 Million years ago.
It was the largest beaver that ever lived, as big as the Black bear today.
The early humans of North America may have valued the giant beaver for its fur as well as its meat.
The Giant Beaver had huge front teeth almost 15cm long.

The Hagerman horse is also called the American Zebra
The Hagerman horse first appeared about 3.5 million years ago.
The first fossils were found in Hagerman Idaho in 1928.
Five nearly complete skeletons, more than 100 skulls, and forty-eight lower jaws have been found in Hagerman.
The horse probably lived in grasslands and floodplains, which is what Hagerman was like 4 million years ago.

The North American Jaguar could live in many different habitats all over North America.
But in order to get there, its ancestors had to traverse nearly the entire globe.
Fossils of the Jaguar have been found in Florida, Maryland, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Washington.
Giant prehistoric jaguars were about the size of a fully grown lion or tiger, and were probably several times stronger, with a much stronger bite.