This excellent image, which is from Wikipedia.org, shows how the general body of a mastodon (on the right) differed from that of a wooly mammoth (on the left, which could be up to 13 feet tall and weigh up to 8 tons). Mastodons were somewhat smaller had shorter legs, more muscular bodies, and a sloping (rather than a bulbous) head.
Mastodon species inhabited North and Central America in the Pliocene, up to their extinction at the end of the Pleistocene, 10,000 to 11,000 years ago.
Mastodons ate coarse vegetation (twigs, leaves, roots, etc.) than did the mammoths. The evidence is provided by the shape of their molar teeth. As shown in the following image, they are cusp-shaped and were designed to crush coarse vegetation.
Mammoth teeth, in striking comparison, consist of a series of enamel plates, designed for chewing leaves and other "soft" vegetation (e.g., sunflowers, milkweed), or possibly even grasses. The latter contains silica, which would wear down teeth unless they are constructed in these parallel enamel plates, as shown in the following image.
Mammoth species were more widespread than mastodons and went extinct later, about 4,000 years ago.
This is so interesting. Great pictures too! I feel like I was just at the La Brea Tar Pits.
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