Coping With the Cold of the Ice Age

In cold climates, plant material is rather scarce. It is usually limited to grasses, low lying shrubs and coniferous forests. Woolly Mammoths would have survived on eating mainly grasses. This is evident from the adaptation of its teeth; the enamel ridges were not suited to grinding twigs and leaves. To access this grass, the Mammoth would have had to clear snow away. Palaeontologists know that Mammoths did this because tusks have been found with a small patch of smoothed ivory on the underside that would have been closest to the ground. The tusk would have been smoothed by the constant abrasion against the ground.

Reconstruction of Woolly Mammoth herd. Image credit news.chicago.edu

In contrast to the Mammoth’s ridged teeth, the Mastodon displays a different adaptation. As the Mastodon lived in more southern regions of North America there were more deciduous trees to feed on, therefore the Mastodon has more conical teeth to deal with the grinding of twigs and leaves.


The fur of animals such as the Woolly Mammoth and Coelodonta were specially adapted to cope with the freezing temperature of the ice age. The coat consisted of two layers; the outer layer was a coarse layer that would protect the second layer. The hair on the outer layer was between 30 centimetres long and 90 centimetres long depending on where about on the body it came from. The denser inner layer was much shorter at only 8 centimetres long; it was this wool that provided the greatest amount of insulation for the animals. It is believed that the Mammoth had sebaceous glands under its skin which would secrete oils onto the hair to make it greasy; this would provide yet more insulation for the Mammoth.


As discussed before, it is necessary for an animal such as the Mammoth to have a small surface are to volume ratio in order to preserve heat. This is the reason behind the size of its ears and tail. By shortening these, the Mammoth is able to reduce its surface area to volume ratio, therefore there is less surface to heat to be lost to the external environment. African elephants have larger ears so they can increase their surface area to volume ratio which allows them to lose more heat during the day. Also by minimising the size of its tail and ears, the Mammoth is able to prevent frostbite.


The Woolly Mammoth also had very wide and flat feet. This was to increase the animal’s grip on the snow and ice. Polar bears have the same adaptation; acting like snow shoes they spread the weight of the animal over a larger area, providing more stability than a smaller foot.