Woolly mammoths still roamed the Earth when the Egyptian pyramids were being built.

World History

W oolly mammoths roamed the Earth for at least half a million years, coexisting with humans for millennia before finally going extinct some 4,000 years ago. That's a long time, but it's not that long in the grand scheme of things. For perspective, consider the fact that woolly mammoths were still alive when the pyramids of Egypt were being built. That speaks to both how long one of history's most famous empires lasted — Egypt existed for more than 3,000 years, making it 15 times older than the United States — as well as how relatively recently the elephantlike creatures existed.

If your mind still isn't sufficiently blown by ancient Egypt's longevity, remember also that Cleopatra lived closer to the moon landing than she did to the construction of the Great Pyramids of Giza. Woolly mammoths, meanwhile, were impressive in their own way, even if they weren't as big as you might imagine — they were about the size of a modern African elephant. Nevertheless, these creatures still loom large in the collective imagination millennia after their extinction, which was long thought to have been caused by humans hunting them. More recently, a consensus has emerged that the true culprit was climate change: The planet warmed too rapidly for them to adapt, as melting icebergs wiped out the vegetation they subsisted on.

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By the Numbers

Length (in feet) of a woolly mammoth's tusks

Year the first fully documented woolly mammoth skeleton was discovered

1799

Did you know?

Some scientists want to bring woolly mammoths back.

Though it's a hotly debated topic in the scientific community for a number of reasons — some logistical, others ethical — some scientists want to resurrect woolly mammoths. Just as importantly, they think they can pull it off. Among them is the company Colossal, and Harvard University geneticist George Church, who believes these neo-mammoths can help combat climate change by trampling away layers of snow and allowing more cold air to reach the soil and maintain the permafrost. Because mammoths roamed extremely cold climates, some corpses are so well preserved that scientists have been able to extract DNA from them — including that of a mammoth discovered in 2013 named Buttercup. Whether it's a good or even plausible idea, however, remains to be seen.