mastodon

Encyclopedia Article

Article

Large mammals, related to elephants, that lived in the Americas unitl the late Pleistocene era, which ended about 12,000 years ago. Mastodons were smaller and less hairy than the wooly mammoth. Changing climate and habitat conditions, in combination with the effectiveness of Clovis and Folsom hunters, eventually drove the mastodon to extinction.

Photo Credit: 

 
"American Mastodon," watercolor on paper, 1897, by Charles R. Knight is licensed under Public Domain.

Published Works: 
Dance Hall of the Dead (1973)
Term Type: 
Historical Reference