SKELETAL STORIES

Explore the skeleton of the Cohoes Mastodon to uncover many of the mysteries hidden deep within its bones

FAST FACTS

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

 

DID YOU KNOW?

 

  • Over 84 bones from the Cohoes Mastodon were recovered from the murky pothole at Harmony Mills, making it roughly 40% complete.

  • A single mastodon femur (upper leg bone) can measure 45-50 inches long, roughly the size of a three-year-old child.

  • The average length of a mastodon's tusk is 55 inches. Unfortunately, portions of the Cohoes Mastodon's tusks had broken off before they were recovered, making them only 35 inches long.

  • The tusks of American mastodon, like those of the modern elephant, are actually modified incisor teeth that grow continually throughout the life of the individual. Similar to counting the rings on trees, scientists can determine the age of the animal by counting yearly growth rings present in the cross-section of the tusks. Additionally, these rings contain chemicals that allow scientists to measure dietary and nutritional information. This is how we know that Cohoes Mastodon suffered nutritional stress at age 11, and that he was 32 years old when he died.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

REFERENCES & RESOURCES

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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