The wooly mammoth, which is an ancestor of our modern elephant, lived on earth for 3,000,000 years, and became extinct only 10,000 years ago. However, we know a great deal about these creatures, more probably than about any other creature that lived at the same time.
Some of these mammoths made their home in the far northern sections of Siberia, around the Arctic Circle. Because of the constant icy conditions there, several complete carcasses have been uncovered in this region buried in the ice. The mammoth’s meat was found to be still fresh enough to eat, and even the contents of its stomach, herbs and tall grasses, were fresh enough for scientists to identify what these animals fed on.
These mammoths also found their way to the North American continent by crossing over a prehistoric land bridge that once existed over what is now the Bering Straits, between Russia and Alaska.
