Mammoth Munchies

Wooly mammoths lived from about 2 million years ago to 9,000 years ago, during the last ice age. To fuel its massive body and stay warm, the wooly mammoth had to eat for up to – get this – 20 hours a day! It spent so much time eating that the wooly mammoth’s four teeth, each one as big as a shoebox, would wear down over the years, and new teeth would grow it place. Here are a few other fun facts about the wooly mammoth’s diet:

• The wooly mammoth ate between 130 to 660 pounds of food each day
• The wooly mammoth drank between 16 to 40 gallons of water per day
• The wooly mammoth produced between 310 to 400 pounds of dung per day (can you imagine that?)

All this food, all this dung – but where did it come from? What do you think the wooly mammoth ate?

Believe it or not, woooly mammoths were mostly herbivores, eating plants, trees, and shrubs, much like today’s (smaller) modern elephant. The wooly mammoth may have had enormous tusks,  their tusks were mostly used as shovels, to dig in the snow, and not to kill other animals. Who knew?!

Learn more about these awesome (but peaceful!) mammals by flipping to card #21 of “Monsters of the Past.”