What extinct mammal was the last known species of the genus Mammuthus?

The woolly mammoth was the last known species of the genus Mammuthus. Its scientific name was Mammuthus primigenius, and it lived across northern Eurasia and North America during the Ice Age.

Woolly mammoths evolved from steppe mammoths in Siberia roughly 800,000 years ago. Their dense fur, small ears, short tail, and layers of body fat helped them survive on the cold, dry mammoth steppe. They fed mainly on grasses and other herbaceous plants, using their long, curved tusks to clear snow and defend themselves.

Several mammoth species are easily confused with it. The Columbian mammoth lived mainly in North America, while the steppe mammoth was an earlier relative. The American mastodon was not a Mammuthus species at all; it belonged to the separate family Mammutidae.

Most woolly mammoths disappeared around the end of the last Ice Age, but isolated populations survived much later. The final known population lived on Wrangel Island until about 4,000 years ago, centuries after humans had built the Great Pyramid of Giza.