Lower jaw of a juvenile fleece mammoth from Rama on the Danube

The fleecy mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) is an extinct species of elephant (Proboscidea, Elephantidae) that inhabits the cold steps of Eurasia and North America during the ice ages (Pleistocene). The last members of these species lived for about 4000 years, and the largest living relative of the mammoth is the Asian elephant (Elephas makimus). During the Paleolithic, fleece mammoths were the prey of hunter-gatherers and the subject of paleumetry. Mammoth molars are a very complex structure, made up of a large number of dentian plates, which are the result of adaptation to abrasive food of important origin. Unlike larger mammals, which have only two generations of teeth (milk and permanent), elephants have as many as six generations of teeth.

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