Mammuthus primigenius

Mammuthus primigenius is commonly known as the ‘woolly mammoth’ widely recognized as a creature of the Ice Age. The woolly mammoth had a shorter trunk than modern elephants, but the tusks were so long they touched the ground, making them suitable for digging the snow for food. As mammoths could find food even during the coldest winter, they were widely distributed throughout Europe, Asia, Siberia, and the North American tundra during the Ice Age. Their morphology and habits are well known because well-preserved mammoth fossils have been discovered in the frozen ground in Siberia. Woolly mammoths were well adapted to the cold climate, having a layer of fat up to 8cm thick under the skin, which was covered with a coat consisting of a shorter inner layer and a longer outer layer of ‘guard hair’. Their ears were far smaller than those of modern elephants, which helped reduce heat loss. Therefore, woolly mammoths were much better adapted to the severe cold weather of the Ice Age than any other animal, enabling them to live throughout northern Eurasia, Alaska, and the northern region of North America as well as Siberia.
As a specimen of a woolly mammoth was found with a spearhead of the early North American embedded in its bone, some scientists believe that hunting was the main factor that contributed to the extinction of the woolly mammoth. Many cave paintings depicting hunts of woolly mammoths by people of the prehistoric age remain to this day. Due to excessive hunting and climate change from cold to warm environments, which led to the shrinkage of its habitat, the woolly mammoth gradually became extinct. Judging from the discoveries of bones and tusks in areas of North Hamgyeong Province including Onseong, Hwadae, and Gilju, woolly mammoths are now known to have lived on the Korean Peninsula.