9. Woolly Mammoths and the Pyramids
Woolly mammoths flourished during the Pleistocene epoch. The extinct pachyderms were about the size of modern African elephants, with males reaching shoulder heights greater than eleven feet, and weighing in at around six tons. Females reached nearly ten feet at the shoulder, weighed around four tons, and calved newborns that weighed around two hundred pounds at birth.
The furry pachyderms are most commonly associated with the Ice Age. Their shaggy coats, comprised of outer layers of long guard hairs atop a shorter undercoat, made them well adapted to the harsh winter environment. Other evolutionary adaptations included a short tail and small ears by pachyderm standards, to minimize frostbite and heat loss. That enabled them to thrive in the Mammoth Steppe – the earth’s most extensive biome during the Ice Age, extending from Canada and across Eurasia to Spain, and from the Arctic Circle to China. However, were woolly mammoths still around when the Great Pyramids were built?