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How do you tell Pleistocene mammoth, mastodon, & gomphothere molars apart? All three occur in Pleistocene deposits in South Carolina and throughout the southeastern USA but are frequently confused with one another. Here's a #fossilexplainer comic from Dr. Boessenecker to help! Image
Mammoth (Mammuthus) teeth are perhaps the easiest to distinguish as they have many plates of enamel that are flattened from front to back - typically 15-30 plates or so; these plates are thin, perhaps 1 cm thick, and the enamel itself is also thin - usually about 2-3 mm.
American mastodon (Mammut) teeth are much lower and have 3-5 transverse sharp ridge-like cusps that wear down into diamond-shaped wear facets. The enamel is quite thick (4-10 cm), & looks fibrous in structure when broken.
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