Explore the skeleton of the Cohoes Mastodon to uncover many of the mysteries hidden deep within its bones
"BONE-AFIDE" FACTS
The two holes in this left femur mark where scientists extracted sections of bone to sample the collagen for carbon dating. The resulting dates from his leg, and an additional sample from his tooth, all indicate that the Cohoes Mastodon died 13,000 years ago.
SKULL STRIKE
At 32 years old, the Cohoes Mastodon received a fatal blow to the left temporal lobe from a tusk of a competing male. Cracks and almost a near-perfect bullseye are clearly visible where the tusk came into contact with the skull.
TUSK-TASTIC!
Each of the Cohoes Mastodon's actual tusks weighs over 45 lbs. At that weight, they would most certainly crush the now-brittle skull. Instead, what you see on display are five-pound fiberglass replicas.
EPIPHYSEAL FUSION
Long bone growth occurs at the epiphyseal plate and stops in adulthood with the epiphysis fusing with the rest of the bone. Although an adult, the Cohoes Mastodon's long bones never properly fused causing scientists to initially describe the Cohoes Mastodon as a juvenile.
TOOTHACHE
As a result of an injury to its jaw, the forward molar was knocked out of alignment and prevented the development of the rear molar.
As a result, it was difficult for him to chew and caused chronic nutritional stress.
Mastodon foot
TIP TOES
Did you know that mastodons, much like modern elephants, actually walked on their tiptoes? The soles of their feet consisted of a tough, fatty connective tissue that functioned as a shock absorber and helped them move rather silently in spite of their size!
Elephant Foot
JAW-STRUCK
At the age of 11, the Cohoes Mastodon received a sharp blow to his lower right jaw from the tusk of another Mastodon, most likely during a musth battle to establish dominance. The impact broke a hole into his jaw and impacted his ability to chew food.
BACK BONES
A complete mastodon skeleton would contain up to 62 vertebrae. However, only 28 of the Cohoes Mastodon's vertebrae were recovered from the pothole at Harmony Mills. The rest are replicas.
Spinal column, length..................
Height at shoulder, skeleton.......
Height at shoulder, restoration..
Pelvis, width..................................
Thighbone (Femur), length.........
Tusks, length................................
Elevation of head.........................
Sex ................................................
Weight...........................................
Age.................................................
Genus.............................................
Family.............................................
Order..............................................
Class...............................................
Phylum...........................................
Kingdom........................................
15 feet
8 ft. 4-3/4 in.
8 ft. 5-1/2 in.
5 ft. 5 in.
41 in.
35 in. (fractured)
8 ft. 11 in.
Male
5 to 6 tons
32 (ave. 50 years)
Mammut
Mammutidae
Proboscidea
Mammalia
Chordata
Animalia
ARTICLES AND ONLINE RESOURCES
New York State Museum Cohoes Mastodon Exhibition
http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/exhibitions/ongoing/cohoes-mastodon-0
Research and Discoveries
When Mammoths and Mastodons Roamed New York
http://www.watershedpost.com/2012/when-mammoths-and-mastodons-roamed-new-york
Ice Age fossils may offer hints to future
http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Ice-Age-fossils-may-offer-hints-to-future-580459.php
Detailed descriptions of the discovery and extraction of Mastodon bones at Harmony Mills
Mastodon Unearthed
http://hoxsie.org/2015/10/20/a-mastodon-unearthed/
Historic Cohoes: The Cohoes Mastodon
http://www.harmonymillslofts.com/cohoes-mastodon/
History of Cohoes
https://archive.org/stream/historyofcohoesn00mast/historyofcohoesn00mast_djvu.txt
Life-like Mastodon Recreation from 1922
The “Reincarnated” Cohoes Mastodon at the Cohoes Library
http://scienceblogs.com/laelaps/2009/03/30/reincarnating-the-cohoes-masto/
This furry reconstruction stood next to skeleton of the Cohoes Mastodon in the State Education Building from 1922-1976.
It is now on view at the Cohoes Library.
PUBLICATIONS
Fisher, D. C. (2009). Paleobiology and extinction of proboscideans in the Great Lakes region of North America. In American megafaunal extinctions at the end of the Pleistocene (pp. 55-75). Springer Netherlands.
Hall, James. (1871). Notes and Observations on the Cohoes Mastodon. 21st Annual Report of the Regents of the University of the State of New York (pp. 99-148). Vanbenthuysen Press, Albany.
Haynes, G. (1993). Mammoths, mastodonts, and elephants: biology, behavior and the fossil record. Cambridge University Press.
Olsen, S. J. (1972). Osteology for the Archaeologist: American Mastadon and the Woolly Mammoth; North American Birds: Skulls and Mandibles; North American Birds: Postcranial Skeletons (Vol. 56, No. 3-5). Peabody Museum Press.
Semonin, P. (2000). American monster: How the nation's first prehistoric creature became a symbol of national identity. NYU Press.
Shoshani, J., & Tassy, P. (Eds.). (1996). The Proboscidea: evolution and palaeoecology of elephants and their relatives (p. 472). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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