Mastodon

an extinct member of the elephant family, closely related to the mammoth. It is known only from skeletons. A very nearly perfect skeleton was found in Missouri in 1840. It is now preserved in the British Museum. The dimensions are as follows: Length, 20 feet 2 inches; height, 9 feet 6 inches; length of head, 3 feet 6 inches; width of foot, 2 feet 11 inches; length of trunk, 7 feet 2 inches; circumference of trunk at base, 27 inches. Another fine skeleton, found at Cohoes, New York, in 1866, is now preserved in the State Museum of Natural History at Albany. Scientists are unable to account for the extinction of this huge animal. It appears to have roamed the valleys of Europe, and especially those of North America, in large herds. It was too large to be destroyed by other animals, and there is no evidence that its food supply gave out. Some of the skeletons are so perfect that remnants of grass, herbs, and leaves have been found in the stomach. See Mammoth; Elephant