Although mammoths and mastodons may look similar at first glance, these giant elephant relatives, which disappeared thousands of years ago, have distinctive characteristics.
Biologist Mara Marques de Ângelo, from the São Paulo Zoological Park Foundation, explains that the main distinctions between the two animals are related to the period they lived in, the specifics of their teeth, and their geographical distribution. Both existed in various species with varying sizes, ranging from five-meter giant mammoths to others less than two meters tall, which makes identification difficult.
Mastodons appeared first, inhabiting Earth since the Miocene epoch, which covers the interval from 23.7 million to 5.3 million years ago. In contrast, mammoths lived only during the Pleistocene epoch, extending from 1.6 million to 10 thousand years ago. Despite originating in different eras, both went extinct around the end of the Pleistocene. Although scientists still debate the exact reasons for this disappearance, the theory of human hunting of calves is one of the hypotheses that may have contributed to the end of these animals.
Dental structure serves as a crucial factor in distinguishing a mammoth from a mastodon. Mammoths had teeth with a longer base and a flat surface, which was ideal for grinding grass and vegetation found in pastures, characterizing them as herbivores specialized in foraging. Mastodons, on the other hand, had teeth with a lower base and an irregular surface, adapted for pulling up shrubs and branches, indicating a different diet, more focused on forests and areas with denser vegetation.
Regarding their environment, mammoths were mainly found in Northern Europe, North America, and notably in Siberia, where very well-preserved fossils were discovered in the ice. Mastodons also occupied these areas, but their dispersion was wider, with certain species spreading across large areas of South America. Both belong to the order Proboscidea, which includes approximately 350 species, with only the African and Asian elephants surviving today.