The smallest dwarf mammoth, standing at less than 4 feet (or about 1 meter) at the shoulders, was apparently discovered on the island of Crete. Reports claim that the findings could help yield insight as to how giant animals can shrink to tiny sizes over evolutionary time.
Palaeontologists have long argued whether the remains belonged to curvy-tusked mammoths or straighter-tusked elephants. Teeth discovered more recently in the same area in Crete now suggest the animal was in fact a mammoth, Mammuthus creticus. A newfound foreleg bone suggests it was the smallest mammoth known, standing only about 3 feet 8 inches (1.13 m) high at the shoulders and weighing only approximately 680 pounds (310 kilograms), making it about the size of a modern baby African or Asian elephant. Mammuthus creticusis the first evidence for extreme island dwarfism in mammoths.
Scientists say that dwarfism often happens to species of large animals when they get trapped on islands, including dinosaurs. They also believe that dwarfism helps giants survive within the limits imposed by islands.
Ancient Mediterranean dwarf elephants are especially extreme examples of island dwarfism. Over the course of less than 800,000 years - a short stint on an evolutionary scale - these dwarfs are thought to have descended from larger European elephants, weighing 100 times as much, which lived on mainland Europe.
Given the scant fossils and the uncertainty about Crete's environment during this period, not much is known about how this dwarf might have lived. Still, its teeth do suggest it browsed on shrubs as opposed to grass like woolly mammoths. Returning to where these fossils were found to excavate more specimens is likely to be tricky.
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