The bones of both mastodons and mammoths have been found throughout lower Michigan.
Mammoths are also extinct elephant relatives, but they were larger than mastodons, their tusks were more curved and their heads had a more domed shape. There were a number of types of mammoths, but the type found in Michigan is known as the Jefferson Mammoth (scientific name Mammuthus jeffersoni.)
Mammuthus jeffersoni
Other animals that lived in Michigan at the same time as the mastodons
This time period is known as the Pleistocene Epoch. Animals that lived in Michigan during the Pleistocene included woodland musk oxen, Scott's moose, which were similar to modern moose but with longer legs and differently-shaped antlers, and giant beavers that were about the size of black bears.
Mammut americanum
There were also many other species that more closely resembled modern species found in Michigan, like muskrat, various kinds of fish and birds, and others. There were also people in Michigan at the time, Paleo-Indians who were the predecessors of later Native American peoples.
