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Mini Mammoth Once Roamed Crete

Posted by samzenpus on from the lets-get-small dept.

ananyo writes "Scientists can now add a 'dwarf mammoth' to the list of biological oxymorons that includes the jumbo shrimp and pygmy whale. Studies of fossils discovered last year on the island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea reveal that an extinct species once thought to be a diminutive elephant was actually the smallest mammoth known to have existed — which, as an adult, stood no taller than a modern newborn elephant (abstract). The species is the most extreme example of insular dwarfism yet found in mammoths."

3 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. Re:you know you thought the same thing... by LMacG · · Score: 4, Funny

    If only that had been mentioned in the summary!

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    Slightly disreputable, albeit gregarious
  2. So the Mimmoths are real! by tetromino · · Score: 4, Funny

    For those who may not be familiar with Girl Genius:
    Mimmoths are tiny verminous mammoths. Originally somebody’s experiment, they escaped and quickly populated most of Europe. They fill the same niche as mice and tend to live alongside them. They get into machinery and push things around with their tusks, wreaking havoc.

  3. Re:Jurassic Park by fishybell · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...and we will call you Hannibabar!

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    ><));>