The Pygmy Mammoth (Mammuthus exilis) was a dwarfed descendant of full-sized mammoths, possibly Mammuthus columbi, the Columbian Mammoth. M. exilis lived on the northern Channel Islands of California of Santa Cruz Island, Santa Rosa Island, and San Miguel Island. The ancestral mammoth probably swam across the Santa Barbara Channel about 20,000 years BP. At the time, these three islands, along with Anacapa Island formed a single land mass known as Santa Rosae. Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms (as opposed to folk taxonomy). ... Phyla Subregnum Parazoa Porifera (sponges) Subregnum Agnotozoa Placozoa (trichoplax) Orthonectida (orthonectids) Rhombozoa (dicyemids) Subregnum Eumetazoa Radiata (unranked) (radial symmetry) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria (coral, jellyfish, anemones) Bilateria (unranked) (bilateral symmetry) Acoelomorpha (basal) Orthonectida (parasitic to flatworms, echinoderms, etc. ... Typical Classes Subphylum Urochordata - Tunicatas Ascidiacea Thaliacea Larvacea Subphylum Cephalochordata - Lancelets Subphylum Myxini - Hagfishes Subphylum Vertebrata - Vertebrates Petromyzontida - Lampreys Placodermi (extinct) Chondrichthyes - Cartilaginous fishes Acanthodii (extinct) Actinopterygii - Ray-finned fishes Actinistia - Coelacanths Dipnoi - Lungfishes Amphibia - Amphibians Reptilia - Reptiles Aves - Birds Mammalia - Mammals Chordates (phylum Chordata) include the vertebrates, together with... Orders Subclass Multituberculata (extinct) Plagiaulacida Cimolodonta Subclass Palaeoryctoides (extinct) Subclass Triconodonta (extinct) Subclass Eutheria (includes extinct ancestors)/Placentalia (excludes extinct ancestors) Afrosoricida Artiodactyla Carnivora Cetacea Chiroptera Cimolesta (extinct) Creodonta (extinct) Condylarthra (extinct) Dermoptera Desmostylia (extinct) Embrithopoda (extinct) Hyracoidea Insectivora Lagomorpha Litopterna (extinct) Macroscelidea Mesonychia (extinct) Notoungulata (extinct) Perissodactyla Pholidota Plesiadapiformes... Groups Jozaria(extinct) Anthracobunidae(extinct) Moeritheriidae(extinct) Euproboscidea Numidotheriidae (extinct) Barytheriidae (extinct) Deinotheriidae (extinct) Elephantiformes Phiomiidae (extinct) Palaeomastodontidae (extinct) Hemimastodontidae (extinct) Euelephantoidea Choerolophodontidae (extinct) Amebelodontidae (extinct) Gnathabelodontidae (extinct) Gomphotheriidae (extinct) Elephantidae Mammutidae (extinct) For the plant genus Proboscidea see, Unicorn plant Proboscidea is an order containing only one family of... Genera and Species Loxodonta Loxodonta cyclotis Loxodonta africana Elephas Elephas maximus Proboscidea is an order including only one extant family, Elephantidae or the elephants, with three species: the Savannah Elephant and Forest Elephant (which were collectively known as the African Elephant), and the Asian Elephant (formerly known as the Indian... This article is about the extinct mammal. ... In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal method of naming species. ... Species Mammuthus columbi  Columbian mammoth Mammuthus exilis  Pygmy mammoth Mammuthus jeffersonii  Jeffersonian mammoth Mammuthus trogontheri  Steppe mammoth Mammuthus meridionalis Mammuthus primigenius  Woolly mammoth Mammuthus lamarmorae  Sardinian Dwarf Mammoth A mammoth is any of a number of an extinct genus of elephant, often with long curved tusks and, in northern species... The Columbian Mammoth (Mammuthus Columbi) is an extinct sub-species of elephant that inhabited the Great Plain of North America between 100,000 and 14,000 years ago. ... The Channel Islands of California, also called the Santa Barbara Islands, are a chain of eight islands located in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California along the Santa Barbara Channel in the United States of America. ... NASA satellite image of Santa Cruz Island. ... There are at least two Santa Rosa Islands: Santa Rosa Island, California is one of the Channel Islands of California. ... Categories: US geography stubs | Channel Islands of California | Santa Barbara County, California ... Looking south-southwest, across the Santa Barbara Channel; the Channel Islands are in the distance. ... Before Present (BP) years are the units of time (counted backwards to the past) used to report raw radiocarbon ages and dates referenced to the BP scale origin in the year AD 1950. ... NASA satellite image of Anacapa Island Anacapa Island is a small volcanic island located about 14 miles (23 km) off the coast of Ventura, California, in Ventura County. ... Santa Rosae was an ancient landmass off the coast of present-day southern California, near Ventura County and Santa Barbara County, of which the Channel Islands of California are remnants. ...

M. exilis stood about 120-240cm (4-8 feet) high at the shoulder.

See also

• Dwarf elephant

Dwarf elephants are pre-historic members of the order Proboscidea, that, through the process of allopatric speciation, evolved to a fraction of the size of their modern ancestors. ...

References

Wikispecies has information related to:

Mammuthus exilis

• Channel Island Park update on pygmy mammoth
• Agenbroad, L. D. Channel Islands (USA) pygmy mammoths (Mammuthus exilis) compared and contrasted with M. columbi, their continental ancestral stock.