Portal:Prehistory of North America

Topics Culture Geography Health History Mathematics Nature People Philosophy Religion Society Technology The Prehistory of North America Portal The Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) was a species of mammoth that inhabited North America as far north as the northern United States and as far south as Costa Rica during the Pleistocene epoch. The Columbian mammoth evolved from the steppe mammoth, which entered North America from Asia about 1.5 million years ago. The pygmy mammoths of the Channel Islands of California evolved from Columbian mammoths. The closest extant relative of the Columbian and other mammoths is the Asian elephant. Reaching 4 m (13 ft) at the shoulders and 8–10 tonnes (18,000–22,000 lb) in weight, the Columbian mammoth was one of the largest species of mammoth. It most likely used its tusks and trunk like modern elephants—for manipulating objects, fighting, and foraging. The Columbian mammoth preferred open areas, such as parkland landscapes, and fed on sedge, grass, and other plants. Genetic evidence suggests that they interbred with wooly mammoths. Before they went extinct, Columbian mammoths coexisted in North America for a few thousand years with Palaeoamericans, who hunted them for food, used their bones for making tools, and depicted them in ancient art. Columbian mammoth remains have been found in association with Clovis culture artefacts; these remains may have stemmed either from hunting or from scavenging. The Columbian mammoth disappeared at the end of the Pleistocene around 11,000 years ago, most likely as a result of habitat loss caused by climate change, hunting by humans, or a combination of both. (see more...) Edward Drinker Cope (July 28, 1840 – April 12, 1897) was an American paleontologist and comparative anatomist, as well as a noted herpetologist and ichthyologist. Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy, publishing his first scientific paper at the age of nineteen. Cope later married and moved from Philadelphia to Haddonfield, New Jersey, although Cope would maintain a residence and museum in Philadelphia in his later years. Cope had little formal scientific training, and he eschewed a teaching position for field work. He made regular trips to the American West prospecting in the 1870s and 1880s, often as a member of United States Geological Survey teams. A personal feud between Cope and paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh led to a period of intense fossil-finding competition now known as the Bone Wars. Cope's financial fortunes soured after failed mining ventures in the 1880s. He experienced a resurgence in his career toward the end of his life before dying in 1897. Cope's scientific pursuits nearly bankrupted him, but his contributions helped to define the field of American paleontology. He was a prodigious writer, with 1,400 papers published over his lifetime, although his rivals would debate the accuracy of his rapidly published works. He discovered, described, and named more than 1,000 vertebrate species including hundreds of fishes and dozens of dinosaurs. His proposals on the origin of mammalian molars and for the gradual enlargement of mammalian species over geologic time ("Cope's Law") are notable among his theoretical contributions. (see more...) ... that Indian Mound Cemetery, originally created by the Hopewell culture, was defended in battle by Confederate soldiers and is the last resting place of an owner of the Washington Redskins? ... that American Canadian scientist Jack Souther contributed significantly to the early understanding of Quaternary volcanism in Canada? ... that both Fordilla and Pojetaia, Cambrian members of the extinct bivalve family Fordillidae, are part of the Turkish small shelly fauna? ...that 12,000-year-old Paleo-Indian artifacts, including a rare fluted point, have been found in a quarry near Goshen, New York? ... that the fossil maple species Acer kenaicum was suggested to be an ancestor of silver maples? ...that Mayanist scholar and archaeologist Sylvanus Griswold Morley was also an American secret agent in World War I? ... that malacologist Myra Keen was called the "First Lady of Malacology"? ... that the cretaceous subfamily Sphecomyrminae has not been included in several recent phylogenetic studies of the ant family? ... that fossil specimens of the extinct scorpionfly family Dinopanorpidae, which includes Dinopanorpa and Dinokanaga, sometimes have preserved dark with light to clear color patterning? ... that the long-nosed god maskettes (pictured) found throughout the American Midwest are believed to have been used in the ritual adoption of visiting tribal leaders? Fossil remains of various horse genera, showing the evolution of their skeletons, skulls and limb bones over time. The uppermost and most recent genus is that of the modern horse, Equus. Below that is Pliohippus, dating back to the late Miocene. Below that and older still is Merychippus of the middle Miocene. The bottom and oldest horse genus is Mesohippus from the late Eocene. Photo credit: H. Zell Template:/box-header Featured prehistory of North America articles - Acrocanthosaurus - Albertosaurus - Allosaurus - Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards - Bone Wars -Chicxulub crater - Columbian mammoth - Edward Drinker Cope - Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event - Daspletosaurus - Deinonychus - Deinosuchus - Dinosaur - Diplodocus - Ediacara biota - Edmontosaurus - Gorgosaurus - Lambeosaurus - Parasaurolophus - Petrified Forest National Park - Stegosaurus - Styracosaurus - Thescelosaurus - Triceratops - Tyrannosaurus - Woolly mammoth Good prehistory of North America articles - ?Oryzomys pliocaenicus - Aetosaur - Archaeomarasmius - Chitinozoan - Cloudinid - Coal ball - Dimetrodon - Stephen Jay Gould - History of paleontology - Kirtlandian - Macabeemyrma - Megalodon - Ornatifilum - Othnielosaurus - Protomycena - Pteranodon - Pterosaur - Saint Croix macaw - Small shelly fauna - Smilodon - Temnospondyli - Tiktaalik - Waptia Template:/box-footer ► Prehistory of North America no subcategories Prehistory of Africa Prehistory of South America Prehistory of Antarctica Prehistory of Asia Prehistory of Europe Prehistory of Oceania North America Archaeology Earth sciences Paleontology Extinct and Endangered Species Paleozoic Mesozoic Cenozoic Dinosaurs What are portals? 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