Five Fun Facts from the Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota

More than 26,000 years ago, large Columbian and woolly mammoths were trapped and died in a spring-fed pond near what is now the southwest edge of Hot Springs, South Dakota.

In 1974, during excavation for a housing project, earth-leveling equipment revealed the white bones and tusks of these huge animals. Local townspeople worked to preserve and protect the site. In 1980, the Department of the Interior designated the Mammoth Site as a National Natural Landmark.

Fifty-five Columbian and three woolly mammoths have been discovered based on tusk count. Experts believe more than 100 mammoths may have died here. Eighty-five other species of Ice Age animals have been discovered, including giant short-faced bear, camel, rabbit, squirrel, prairie dog, vole and many more.

The Mammoth Site Museum represents the unique setting of and public access to the "in-situ" bone bed where the mammoth bones are excavated, preserved and studied in place year-round. On a 30-minute guided tour of the Mammoth Site, visitors learn why huge woolly and Columbian mammoths became trapped. The Mammoth Site is the world’s largest mammoth research facility and museum. Visitors can stroll the edges of the indoor fossil bone bed.

Here are five fun facts from the Mammoth Site:

The World’s Largest Site of Columbian Mammoth Bones. The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota, is the world's largest deposit of Columbian mammoth bones.

How’d They Get Here? Mammoths, mastodons and elephants emerged from a group of mammals with developed trunks and tusks. This group, called proboscideans, is traced back 55 million years. Although related, mammoths, mastodons and elephants are from different branches of this proboscidean ancestral tree. The first mammoths developed in Africa, and soon ranged into Europe and Siberia. The ancestral mammoth, M. meridionalis, reached North America about 1.7 million years ago. Over thousands of years, while adapting to the North American environment, the ancestral mammoth evolved to become the Columbian mammoth (the American mammoth).

Maa + Mutt = Mammoth. The word “mammoth” comes from two words from the Estonian language: "Maa," which means earth, and "Mutt," which means mole. Estonia is a country near Russia, where farmers found gigantic bones in their fields. They thought that the bones belonged to huge burrowing animals. We are the ones who have related the word “mammoth” to meaning “extraordinarily large.”

Measuring the Age of the Mammoth. Researchers determine the approximate age of the mammoth by measuring the length and width of its molars.

Big Eaters with Great Dexterity. The average Columbian mammoth consumed approximately 700 pounds of vegetation daily. Like an elephant, a mammoth would feed by wrapping its trunk around large clumps of grass, then, after tearing the grass loose, would place the food in its mouth. With sensitive tips of its trunk, a mammoth could also delicately pick buds, flowers and shorter grasses.

Photos top to bottom: junior paleontologist program at Mammoth Site, courtesy of South Dakota Tourism; visitors on tour at Mammoth Site, courtesy of South Dakota Tourism; Earthwatch volunteers excavating at Mammoth Site, courtesy of Mammoth Site.