Ice-Age Mammoth Molar

Mammoths grazed on grasses, sedges and herbs in dry open landscapes including tundra. Grasses and sedges contain microscopic silica bodies that can cut your skin and grind down teeth. The extra ridges helped the mammoth teeth resist this wear. Eventually, after many decades of grinding, the molars wore down and the elderly mammoth starved to death. This tooth was discovered in a gravel pit in Cordova Bay on Vancouver island. It measures 16 centimetres long, 9 centimetres wide and 11 centimetres deep. Learn more about mammoths here.

RBCM.EH1994.003.0017