Adaptations and Evolution Adaptations. A woolly mammoth tusk was about 15 feet (5 meters) long and was used for fighting and digging in the deep snow of the Ice Age. The woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) is an extinct species of mammoth that lived during the Pleistocene until its extinction in the early Holocene epoch. Woolly mammoths would have been almost the same size as an elephant today. The origin and evolution of the woolly mammoth. Using well-dated samples from across the mammoth's Eurasian range, we document geographical and chronological variation in adaptive morphology. These mammoths lived in northern Africa and disappeared about 3 or 4 million years ago. The woolly mammoth model. In other words, we can use it to observe evolution in action. Also, the mammoth had hair to keep them warm. The Ice Age was a time where global temperatures became extremely cold and the land was covered with huge sheets of ice and alpine glaciers. Poor Woolly Mammoth is feeling lonely. These animals were herbivores who mainly ate grasses and other plants as well as flowers. . A mammoth task -- sorting out mammoth evolution by BioMed Central An illustrated figure of the Columbian mammoth and the woolly mammoth Evolution. Above, a clip of what Woolly Mammoth life might have been like, from the BBC natural history show Wild New World. Share Tweet. The mammoth lineage branched from the Asian elephant around 6 million years ago. Author information: (1)Department of Biology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK. The life and evolution of the Woolly Mammoth . 300,000 years of evolution. The evolution, or devolution, is heartbreaking. Second Evolution Message: The discovery of complete specimens stuck in ice allowed us to know the exact appearance of the Woolly Mammoth. Video Games Turok: Evolution (Cut content) The evolution, or devolution, is heartbreaking. Watch more with these video collections: animals animation archaeology bbc extinct france history ice age news paleontology Paris prehistoric science skeleton woolly mammoth. The woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) is a species of prehistoric elephant that appears periodically throughout the Turok franchise, frequently as an inhabitant of the Lost Land. These adaptations helped with the selection of the species because it helped them to survive during the last Ice Age. Just like African elephants, woolly mammoths had two fingers on their trunks. Mammoth samples postdating the Anglian/Elsterian glaciation in Europe (∼450 ka, probably MIS 12) have often been regarded as early forms of woolly mammoth M. primigenius on the basis of increased LF relative to M. trogontherii (19, 20). The mammoth lineage provides an example of rapid adaptive evolution in response to the changing environments of the Pleistocene. Below, scientists dive further into what traits the Mammoth had to adapt to the freezing cold temperatures of the Ice Age: The woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) died out about 10,000 years ago, although a population of dwarf mammoths survived until 1700 B.C.