Alaska

=**Alaska**=
 * =** Alaska: **//Mammuthus primigenius// =

==The **Woolly Mammoth**, //Mammuthus primigenius//, was adopted in 1986 per the 14th Legislature as the state fossil. The Woolly Mammoth was designated the official state fossil of Alaska in 1986. Giant grass-eaters of the Ice Age tundra, the Woolly Mammoth stood 10-12 feet (3-3.7 meters) tall at the shoulder and weighed 6-8 tons. Woolly mammoths roamed the northern plains for most of the last 2 million years or so until about 10,000 years ago. Mammoths died out at the end of the last ice age. No one really knows why, but scientists theorize that there just may not have been enough food to support them. They did have predators, including early man, but these were not plentiful enough or needy enough to hunt the mammoth to extinction. ==
 * =**Description: **=


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> ==The Pleistocene epoch follows the  Pliocene epoch and is followed by the  Holocene epoch. The Pleistocene is the first epoch of the Quaternary Period or sixth epoch of the  Cenozoic Era. The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the  last glacial period. It also corresponds with the end of the  Paleolithic age used in  archaeology. The Pleistocene has been dated from 2.588 million (±5,000) to 12,000 years before present(BP), with the end date expressed in radiocarbon years as 10,000 carbon-14 years BP. It covers most of the latest period of repeated <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1ddb0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">glaciation <span style="color: #1ddb0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">, up to and including the Younger Dryas cold spell. The end of the Younger Dryas has been dated to about 9640 BC. == > ==<span style="color: #1ddb0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">One of the best preserved Alaskan specimens consists of most of an entire skeleton from Whitestone River in the Yukon Territory. == > ==<span style="color: #1ddb0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Woolly mammoths are symbolic of Alaska because of their large size (about 3 m high at the shoulders; 10 ft.), broad circumpolar geographic distribution, relative abundance during the last glaciation and adaptation to cold environments. A great deal is known about the appearance of these hairy elephants as a result of the discovery of several well-preserved carcasses in frozen ground in Siberia and Alaska, and from depictions in European Paleolithic cave art. The woolly mammoth had large (up to 4 m; 13 ft.), curved ivory tusks, a high domed head and sloping back. ==
 * =**<span style="color: #0098ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Time: ** <span style="color: #1ddb0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Late Pleistocene (126,000 ± 5,000 years ago.) =
 * =**<span style="color: #0098ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Preservation: **=
 * =**<span style="color: #0098ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Who Found the Fossil/Why is it the State Fossil: **=

==<span style="color: #1ddb0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">"Alaska State Fossil - Woolly Mammoth." //State Symbols USA - official state and national symbols, emblems, icons//. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. <http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Alaska/fossil_woollymammoth.html>. == >> = =
 * =**<span style="color: #0098ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Sources: **=
 * 1) <span style="background-color: rgba(0,0,0,0); vertical-align: top;">
 * 1) ==<span style="color: #1ddb0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">"Alaska State Fossil: Woolly Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius)." //e-ReferenceDesk - 50 State Learning Resource Guide//. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. <http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/state-fossil/alaska.html>. ==
 * 2) ==<span style="color: #1ddb0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">"Woolly Mammoth: Natural History Notebooks." //Canadian Museum of Nature - Musée canadien de la nature//. ==