MAMMOTHS AND MASTODONS 117 



horse, the fox and woolly rhinoceros, the Irish elk 

 and the reindeer, were living then, and other animals, 

 also. As the British Isles, Europe, and Africa were 

 all connected at that time, these creatures had a wide 

 range. The waters, too, were filled with animals, 

 and through the rivers that crossed Europe hippo- 

 potamuses swam and waded from Africa to England, 

 where many of them lived and died. 



We may be sure that the flesh eaters among these 

 animals hunted man even more than man hunted 

 them. Then, also, the animals fought among them- 

 selves and men fought one another. So it was a time 

 of continual warfare. 



But, in the days when the Mammoths were the 

 most powerful, there were no human beings living. 

 It was probably more because of their numbers than 

 of their size that these animals held dominion over all 

 other animals for so long a period of time. It has 

 often been said that both the Mammoths and the 

 Mastodons were very much larger than any living 

 elephants. This is a mistake. To be sure some 

 of them were taller than are the elephants seen in 

 exhibitions, for these are rarely more than nine feet 



