User:Abyssal/Prehistory of North America

{ {{Portal maintenance status|date

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

The Prehistory of North America Portal

Introduction

Read more...

Show new selections below (purge)

edit

Selected article on prehistoric North America

The Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) was a species of mammoth that inhabited North America as far north as the northern United States and as far south as Costa Rica during the Pleistocene epoch. The Columbian mammoth evolved from the steppe mammoth, which entered North America from Asia about 1.5 million years ago. The closest extant relative of the Columbian and other mammoths is the Asian elephant.

Reaching 4 m (13 ft) at the shoulders and 8–10 tonnes (18,000–22,000 lb) in weight, the Columbian mammoth was one of the largest species of mammoth. It had long, curved tusks and four molars, which were replaced six times during the lifetime of an individual. It most likely used its tusks and trunk like modern elephants—for manipulating objects, fighting, and foraging. Bones, hair, dung and stomach contents have been discovered, but no preserved carcasses are known. The Columbian mammoth preferred open areas, such as parkland landscapes, and fed on sedge, grass, and other plants.

Columbian mammoths coexisted with Palaeoamericans, who hunted them for food, used their bones for making tools, and depicted them in ancient art. Columbian mammoth remains have been found in association with Clovis culture artefacts. The Columbian mammoth disappeared at the end of the Pleistocene around 11,000 years ago, most likely as a result of habitat loss caused by climate change, hunting by humans, or a combination of both. (see more...)

More articles...

Need help?

Do you have a question about Abyssal/Prehistory of North America that you can't find the answer to?

Consider asking it at the Wikipedia reference desk.

edit

Selected article on the prehistory of North America in science, culture and economics

Edward Drinker Cope (left) and Othniel Charles Marsh (right).

The Bone Wars is the name given to a period of intense fossil speculation and discovery during the Gilded Age of American history, marked by a heated rivalry between Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh. The two paleontologists used underhanded methods to out-compete the other in the field, resorting to bribery, theft, and destruction of bones. The scientists also attacked each other in scientific publications, attempting to ruin the other's credibility and cut off his funding.

Originally colleagues who were civil to each other, Cope and Marsh became bitter enemies after several personal slights between them. Their pursuit of bones led them west to rich bone beds in Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming. From 1877 to 1892, both paleontologists used their wealth and influence to finance their own expeditions and to procure services and fossils from dinosaur hunters. By the end of the Bone Wars, both men exhausted their funds in fueling their intense rivalry.

Cope and Marsh were financially and socially ruined by their efforts to disgrace each other, but their contributions to science and the field of paleontology were massive; the scientists left behind tons of unopened boxes of fossils on their deaths. The feud between the two men led to over 142 new species of dinosaurs being discovered and described. Several historical books and fictional adaptations have also been published about this period of intense paleontological activity. (see more...)

More articles...

edit

Did you know?

... that the discovery of 189 fossils of the mid-Cambrian Odontogriphus thrust it into the centre of a heated debate about the evolution of molluscs, annelids and brachiopods?
... that the extinct ant Anochetus brevidentatus was the second Anochetus species described from Dominican amber?
... that it may not be possible to determine what ?Oryzomys pliocaenicus is?
... that the Makauwahi Cave has been described as "...maybe the richest fossil site in the Hawaiian Islands, perhaps in the entire Pacific Island region"?
... that the name for the extinct birch family genus Kardiasperma is from the Greek words for "heart" and "seed"?

... that the widowed philanthropist Mary Hemenway (pictured), impressed with Frank Cushing's anthropological work among the Zuni, sponsored the Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition?
... that one species of the extinct bivalve Similodonta was found in 108.90 metres (357.3 ft) down a Welsh borehole?
... that Canadian paleontologist Scott D. Sampson hosted the four episode nature documentary series Dinosaur Planet for the Discovery Channel in 2003?
... that the type specimen of the extinct tortoise beetle Denaeaspis is only 6.04 millimetres (0.238 in) long?
... that the extinct termite bug Termitaradus dominicanus is divided into fourteen brown lobes?

More DYKs...

edit

Selected image

Rock formations known as the Tepees in Petrified Forest National Park Arizona, USA. The exposed rock layers belong to the Blue Mesa Member of the Chinle Formation and are about 220 to 225 million years old. The colorful bands of mudstone and sandstone were laid down during the Triassic, when the area was part of a huge tropical floodplain.
Photo credit: User:Finetooth