What elephant-like animal with long curved tusks went extinct around 10,000 years ago?

The elephant-like animal with long, curved tusks that went extinct around 10,000 years ago was the woolly mammoth. Its scientific name was Mammuthus primigenius, and it was one of the best-studied prehistoric mammals because frozen carcasses, skeletons, teeth, dung, and even stomach contents have been preserved.

Woolly mammoths evolved in Siberia and spread across northern Eurasia and North America via Beringia, the Ice Age land bridge. Their long fur, small ears, short tail, and thick fat layer helped them survive in the cold, dry grasslands known as the mammoth steppe. They were close relatives of modern Asian elephants, not modern African elephants.

Most mainland populations disappeared between about 14,000 and 10,000 years ago as climates warmed and their habitat shrank. Human hunting may also have accelerated the decline. Small island populations survived much later: St. Paul Island mammoths lasted until about 5,600 years ago, while Wrangel Island mammoths survived until roughly 4,000 years ago.