HOW THE MIGHTY MAMMOTH RULED THE ICE AGE

Meet the prehistoric giants that roamed the Arctic Circle thousands of years ago

- SCOTT DUTFIELD

Stomping across the Arctic tundra around 10,000 years ago, the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) was one of the hardiest mammals in the world.

Built for stamina and strength, a woolly mammoth could stand up to four metres tall and weighed around six tonnes. However, it was by no means the first of the mammoths, but one of ten currently recognised species. The story of the woolly mammoth starts with the African mammoth (Mammuthus subplanifrons). Physically similar to the elephants of today, this common ancestor of the world's mammoths became extinct around 3 million years ago. The descendants of this African ancestor, such as the southern mammoth (Mammuthus meridionalis), migrated north, spreading across Europe, Asia and eventually the North American continent, crossing the temporary land bridge across the Bering Strait from modern-day Russia.

In Asia, a new mammoth species emerged, called the Steppe mammoth (Mammuthus trogontherii), which feasted on the shrubs and trees that filled the grassland 'steppes' more than a million years ago before venturing into North America. After stepping onto the continent, another giant species emerged around 125,000 years ago, called the Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi), likely evolving from the hybridisation of steppe mammoths and one of its descendants, the woolly mammoth. Woolly mammoths first evolved around 800,000 years ago in modern-day Siberia. Researchers suspect that after a population of steppe mammoths began to adapt to the frigid environment by growing thick, hairy coats, this new species emerged. During the rise of the woolly mammoth, Europe endured a period of glaciation, and the northern part of the continent was covered by massive ice sheets. A thick coat and fat resources were the saving grace for the woolly mammoth in the face of a bitter ice age.