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Mammoths on Other Islands Around the World

The evolution of the massive mammoths down to the pygmy mammoths is not an occurrence unique to the Channel Islands. Remarkably, the same process took place around the world on other islands where the mammoths found themselves separated from the mainland - presumably protected from mainland predators, and having to adapt to a new food source. Take a look at a world map and see where the pygmy mammoths have been found :

Malta and Sicily, southwest of Italy

The Island of Ceylon, near India

Wrangle Island, north of Siberia

Santa Rosa and San Miguel Island



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The Swimming Elephant Story



There has been an example in recent times of the elephant families ability to survive lengthy ocean swims. And as the descendent of the mammoths, this story helps reveals that it is not really all that mysterious that the mammoths were able to swim out to the Channel Islands.

Jerry Camarillo Dunn, Jr. learned in an interview with Tom Rockwell, the geologist who discovered the 95% complete mammoth skeleton on Santa Rosa in 1994, that a circus boat once sank off the Carolinas on the eastern American seaboard. The ship went down thirty miles from land. " The only animals that made it ashore were the elephants.

The elephants of today are surprisingly strong swimmers, a characteristic they seem to have inherited directly from their ancestors, the mammoths. They are even known to use their trunks like a snorkel to keep a fresh supply of air even when somewhat submerged !

Elephants greeting

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