Smallest mammoths found on Crete [View all]

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18003093

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/60108000/jpg/_60108444_mammuthus_creticu_type_specimen_2_-_copyright_natural_history_museum,_london-1.jpg
The researchers analysed teeth collected on the island

The smallest mammoth ever known to have existed roamed the island of Crete millions of years ago, researchers say.

Adults were roughly the size of a modern baby elephant, standing over a metre tall at the shoulders.

Remains were discovered more than a century ago, but scientists had debated whether the animal was a mammoth or an ancient elephant.

A new analysis of the animal's teeth suggests it falls closer to the mammoth lineage.

Palaeontologists Victoria Herridge and Adrian Lister, from London's Natural History Museum, report their findings in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B.