HERE STANDS A LIFE-SIZED MODEL OF THE SOUTHERN MAMMOTH, THIS IS THE LARGEST MAMMOTH OF ALL TIME!
Mammuthus meridionalis (NESTI, 1825).
The iconic Ice Age animal, the woolly mammoth, has already been reconstructed in many life-sized models, which can be seen in various museums and parks across Europe, Asia, and North America. This has made the woolly mammoth incredibly popular. Many of these models are based on discovered skeletal remains and sometimes even mummified carcasses recovered from the eternally frozen ground, the permafrost. This is known as the fossil record. No life-sized reconstructions of southern mammoths have ever been made. There are several reasons for this: this species of mammoth is relatively unknown and is considerably larger than the woolly mammoth. A shoulder height – the highest point of the back measured at the shoulder blade – of over four meters was not uncommon! This was a challenge for Historyland to commission Jim van Dijk of Jim van Dijk Creations/Replica Wildlife, under the guidance of mammoth expert Dick Mol from Historyland, to build a life-sized replica. This life-sized model is based on the fossil remains of the southern mammoth. Remains of this mammoth species are regularly fished up from the bottom of the North Sea and are also found in the Maasvlakte region. A prehistoric elephant with a shoulder height of 420 cm!