![]() However, the dire wolf had shorter limbs than C. These skeletons show that dire wolves ( Canis dirus) were about 25% heavier than modern gray wolves ( Canis lupus), weighing between 130 and 150 pounds (59 to 68 kg), according to the Florida Museum of Natural History. MammothsĪ dire wolf's skeleton (Image credit: Courtesy of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County)ĭire wolves went extinct about 13,000 years ago, but their bones are plentiful in California's La Brea Tar Pits and Wyoming's Natural Trap Cave. Mammoths, in contrast, sported curlier tusks. However, mastodons had long, curved tusks that measured up to 16 feet (4.9 meters) long. And both had shaggy coats that protected them from the cold. Mastodons are also a bit shorter than mammoths, but both species reached heights between 7 and 14 feet (2 to 4 meters), according to a 2013 Live Science piece. Related: Mammoth or mastodon: What's the difference? They also ate wetland plants that weren't full of abrasive material found in terrestrial plants, MacPhee said. ![]() For instance, mastodons had less-complex teeth - cone-shaped cusps on their molars - that helped them crunch on the leaves, twigs and branches of deciduous and conifer trees. They were also more primitive than their mammoth cousins. Mastodons ( Mammut) entered North America about 15 million years ago, traveling over the Bering Strait land bridge, long before their relative, the mammoth, according to the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre in Canada. ![]()
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