Entitled: The extinct Mammoth, related to the Indian elephant." A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus, proboscideans commonly equipped with long, curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair. They lived from the Pliocene epoch from around 5 million years ago, into the Holocene at about 4,500 years ago and were members of the family Elephantidae, which contains, along with mammoths, the two genera of modern elephants and their ancestors. This animal appeared during Cenozoic era, the most recent era of geologic time, from about 65 million years ago to the present. The Cenozoic Era is characterized by the formation of modern continents and the diversification of mammals and plants. Grasses also evolved during the Cenozoic. The climate was warm and tropical toward the beginning of the era and cooled significantly in the second half, leading to several ice ages. Humans first appeared near the end of this era. Taken from "The book of the animal kingdom. Mammals" by William Percival Westell, 1910.