Nebraska

__ Nebraska __

 * Nebraska's state fossil was declared the mammoth. Many species of mammoth have been found in Nebraska such as the Woolly Mammoth, Columbian, and the Imperial Mammoth. The genus is //Mammuthus.//
 * Mammoths were elephant-like mammals that were well adapted to cold weather. They were herbivores and had long, dense hair and underfur, large ears, a long proboscis, and long tusks. The sizes of mammoths ranged from nine feet to over fifteen feet tall. The tusks varied between species; some species had straight tusks while other had curved tusks. These tusks were used in mating rituals, for protection, and to forage in the snow for food.
 * The mammoth existed during the Pleistocene epoch until the Holocene from around five million years ago until about four thousand five hundred years ago. They roamed around Siberia, North America, and Central America. The Woolly mammoth had a much thicker coat due to the cold weather it lived in. At the time, the area was cold and the mammoths had to be able to keep warm and survive. In North America, the Imperial mammoth had a thinner coat than the Woolly Mammoth. The climate in North America was much warmer and the Columbian mammoth had the same characteristics because they lived along each other.
 * For the mammoths, preservation was different. The Imperial and Columbian mammoths were preserved in tar where some Woolly mammoths were encased in ice. Many were uncovered in the Lincoln County.
 * The mammoth was adopted as the state fossil on March 1, 1967 on Nebraska's 100th birthday. It became the state fossil because many different species were found in Nebraska. The Woolly, Imperial, and Columbian mammoths were discovered in Nebraska. Many mammoths migrated along this route. The Imperial mammoth was uncovered in 1922, in Lincoln County, Nebraska, by a rancher and his wife.



Sources:

 * 1) University of Nebraska State Museum (2010). The Division of Vertebrate Paleontology. Retrieved from []
 * 2) Athropolis Productions Limited (2005). Athropolis Facts: Cold, Icy, and Arctic. Retrieved from []
 * 3) State Symbols USA (2012). Nebraska State Fossil. Retrieved from []