Extinct Columbian (Mammuthus columbi) and Channel Island (M. exilis) Mammoths Fact Sheet: Distribution & Habitat

Paleontologists use knowledge of the earth's rocks, global plate tectonic movements, ancient ecosystems, and the chemical process of fossilization to make sense of fossil distribution patterns and ancient habitats.

• Columbian mammoths occupied North America from Canada to central Mexico. (Todd & Roth 1996).
• No mammoths dispersed into South America. (Dudley 1996)
• Columbian mammoths arrived on the Channel Islands at least by 47,000 years ago and eventually evolved pygmy individuals (Agenbroad 1996)
• Pygmy Channel Island Mammoths occupied what are now island remnants of a larger Pleistocene island. (Agenbroad 1998) (Agenbroad & Mead 1996)
  • Sea levels rose when the last ice age ended, further isolating the island mammoths and shrinking their habitat
  • San Miguel and Santa Rosa islands all have pygmy mammoth fossils

• Extremely variable habitats (Agenbroad & Mead 1996).
  • From sea level to high elevation mountains of Colorado Plateau.
  • From riparian, dune, grassland, to steppe-tundra
    • Revealed by pollen and plant fragments in sediments and dung
• Habitat use for modern elephants can also be determined by study of isotopes of carbon, nitrogen, lead, and strontium
  • These isotopes are deposited in bone tissue of modern and extinct elephants
  • Each habitat has distinct isotope signature from plant types, soils, water. (Koch et al 1995)
• Mammoths, like elephants, modified their habitats
  • Landscape of Channel Islands probably became more open grassland due to mammoth's activities (Johnson 1972)
• Forage in Channel Island habitats would have been a limiting resource, favoring smaller body size (Roth 1984)

Agenbroad (1998)
Agenbroad & Mead (1996)
Dudley (1996)
Johnson (1972)
Koch et al. (1995)
Todd & Roth (1996)