The name Mastodon means “nipple tooth.” Its name means "nipple tooth". [41], The range of most species of Mammut is unknown as their occurrences are restricted to few localities, the exception being the American mastodon (M. americanum), which is one of the most widely distributed Pleistocene proboscideans in North America. Mastodons lived in herds and were predominantly forest-dwelling animals that lived on a mixed diet obtained by browsing and grazing, somewhat similar to their distant relatives, modern elephants, but probably with gr… Compared to mammoths, mastodons had shorter legs, a longer body and were more heavily muscled,[31] a build similar to that of the current Asian elephants. Late Miocene-Late Pleistocene, 5.3–0.011 North America Mastodons are any species of extinct mammutid proboscideans in the genus Mammut, distantly related to elephants, that inhabited North and Central America during the late Miocene or late Pliocene up to their extinction at the end of the Pleistocene 10,000 to 11,000 years ago. Below you'll discover 10 fascinating facts about the Mastodon, the lesser-known half of this pachyderm pair. [51], "Mammut" redirects here.

borsoni). M. americanum fossil sites range in time from the Blancan to Rancholabrean faunal stages and in locations from as far north as Alaska, as far east as Florida, and as far south as the state of Puebla in central Mexico,[10] with an isolated record from Honduras, probably reflecting the results of the maximum expansion achieved by the American mastodon during the Late Pleistocene. By contrast, most Mastodon remains are completely isolated, which is evidence (but not proof) of a solitary lifestyle among full-grown adults. The Mastodon which means " breast teeth " in Greek, is an extinct mammal that lived in the Pleistocene 10,000 to 11,000 years ago. [5] Johann Friedrich Blumenbach assigned the scientific name Mammut to the American "incognitum" remains in 1799, under the assumption that they belonged to mammoths. It is small for its size. [40] Study of mastodon teeth microwear patterns indicates that mastodons could adjust their diet according to the ecosystem, with regionally specific feeding patterns corresponding to boreal forest versus cypress swamps, while a population at a given location was sometimes able to maintain its dietary niche through changes in climate and browse species availability. The change was met with resistance, and authors sometimes applied "Mastodon" as an informal name; consequently it became the common term for members of the genus. For the record, the Mastodon's official genus name is Mammut, which is so confusingly similar to Mammuthus (the genus name of the Woolly Mammoth) that "Mastodon" is the preferred usage of both scientists and the general public.
Mammoths ranged from Alaska to California, and over to Arkansasand Florida, while sabertooth cats have been found in both California and Florida.

Mastodons and Mammoths are often confused—which is understandable since they were both giant, shaggy, prehistoric elephants that roamed the plains of Pleistocene North America and Eurasia from two million to as recently as 20,000 years ago. Other accounts (e.g,, the Burning Tree mastodon) have reported no coniferous content and suggest selective feeding on low, herbaceous vegetation, implying a mixed browsing and grazing diet,[39] with evidence provided by studies of isotopic bone chemistry indicating a seasonal preference for browsing.
The mystery animal became known as the "incognitum". It was first discovered in the late 18th century and was named by Georges Cuvier in 1799. [29] The rate of mtDNA sequence change in proboscideans was found to be significantly lower than in primates. [32] Mastodons had cusp-shaped teeth, very different from mammoth and elephant teeth (which have a series of enamel plates), well-suited for chewing leaves and branches of trees and shrubs. Mastodon as a genus name is obsolete;[8] the valid name is Mammut, as that name preceded Cuvier's description, making Mastodon a junior synonym. About 30 million years ago (give or take a few million years), a population of prehistoric elephants in Africa branched off into a group that eventually included the genus Mammut as well as the lesser-known ancestral pachyderms Eozygodon and Zygolophodon.