Mastodont skeleton, Mammut americanum

Common Name: Mastodont
Scientific Name: Mammut americanum
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidea
Family: Mammutidae
Image Number: ROM2007_9476_1

Description:
The mastodon, Mammut americanum, was one of the largest mammals living during the Pleistocene, from about 2 million years ago to 10,000 years ago. Along with the extinct mammoth, it belonged to the Proboscidea order, which now contains only one family—modern-day elephants. Smaller than a mammoth, the mastodon was similar in size to an elephant, but had a longer body, shorter legs, rounded teeth, and larger and longer tusks (up to five metres in length). A herbivore, the mastodon inhabited spruce and fir forests across North America, browsing on leaves, twigs, branches and shrubs.

This individual only had one tusk: the cavity in the skull for the left tusk had closed during its lifetime. Also look at the front of the mastodon's lower jaw to see a second pair of small tusks: mammoths and elephants lack these.