Woolly mammoths were ancestors of the modern elephant. They evolved from the genus Mammuthus, which first appeared 5.1 million years ago in Africa. These huge, shaggy beasts went extinct more than 10,000 years ago, along with their distant cousins the mastodons. Images of woolly mammoths were painted on the cave walls of prehistoric people, and they have become part of our popular culture. There′s a significant movement to try to bring the species back through cloning.
