History for Kids: The History of Woolly Mammoths

In September 2012, on a chilly morning, a Russian kid named Yevgeny Zhenya and his dogs were walking to school, when an awful smell made them stop. The 11-year-old wanted to find out what smelled so bad, and with the help of his furry friends, he went to explore the land. They stumbled upon a giant pair of heels that were covered in an immense pile of snow! What could such a giant thing be?

The creature he found turned out to be a 16-year-old mammoth whose body had remained whole for over 30,000 years! Since 1901 no one had made such an important find, making this discovery quite special; they even named the creature after the little boy who found him!

After dinosaurs, few vanished animals are as famous as the woolly mammoths, or in 18th-century scientist George Cuvier’s words, some kind of extinct elephant. Raise your hand and keep reading if you are ready to learn more about the story, fossils, facts, and pictures of these amazing and gentle 10-feet giants!