[SoCal Pubbie]

I did a fossil exhibit about ten years ago and learned a bit about mammoths. There were several types. The North American Columbian mammoth and the Imperial Mammoth of California ( some scientists think the two species were the same beast), the Woolly Mammoth and the Pygmy Mammoth, which lived on Catalina Island (and perhaps elsewhere) as late as 5,000 years ago. I believe the Woolly variety is the only one likely to be furry, as they lived in colder climates like Siberia.

[SoCal Pubbie]

More mammoth stuff from Wikipedia:

“The southern mammoth consequently declined, being replaced across most of its territory by the cold-adapted steppe mammoth (Mammuthus trogontherii). This in turn gave rise to the woolly mammoth, (Mammuthus primigenius) around 300,000 years ago. Woolly mammoths were better able to cope with the extreme cold of the Ice Ages.

The woollies were a spectacularly successful species; they ranged from Spain to North America and are thought to have existed in huge numbers...

...Fossils of species of dwarf mammoth have been found on the Californian Channel Islands (Mammuthus exilis) and the Mediterranean island of Sardinia (Mammuthus lamarmorae). There was also a race of dwarf woolly mammoths on Wrangel Island, north of Siberia, within the Arctic Circle.”

[nmh]

That must have been quite an experience!!!!

Mammoths are fascinating.

[Old Professer]

That might be why they called them wooly...