Mastodons became extinct as recently as 8,000 years ago, along with their Pleistocene cousins, the mammoths.
Although mastodons had many similarities to both mammoths and elephants, they were different in one way.
Their teeth weren’t flat, but bumpy, perhaps for better tearing and grinding.
Mastodons ate shrubs, leaves, and grasses, and some experts say their favorite treat was the fibrous stalks and leaves of the water lily.
Remnants have been found in the digestive tracts of several well-preserved carcasses.
