WHOLE MAMMOTH FORE-LEG. ...

Description

WHOLE MAMMOTH FORE-LEG
Mammathus primigenius
Pleistocene
Alaska
This massive heavy specimen is the front right leg of the extinct woolly mammoth. A lumbering tundra-dweller covered in thick shaggy fur like that of today's musk-ox, they were not in fact as large as popular perception would have them, barely out sizing the modern-day Asian Elephant at 9-13 feet tall, although they would tend to be rather heavier (the Siberian Songhua River Mammoth, however, could have grown as large as 17 feet tall). This striking piece comprises the scapula, humerus, radius, ulna and the metacarpals of the five-toed foot. These last are impressively hefty, as they would need to be as the giant beast actually walked on "tiptoe". The bones exhibit a lovely dark gray-brown patination and beautiful grainy bone texture. Most interesting of all, however, several areas are distinctively patterned with what looks like butchery marks, where the hunter's knife sliced through the thick coat and the flesh right down to the bone. A spectacular display, the leg is mounted on a metal armature and stands a full 7 feet high.

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