Wednesday, 10 September 2025

Read about the animals below.  Select an animal to report on.  Research what scienctist believe the animal looked like.  On a piece of paper (vertical/portrait) draw and colour a picture of the animal, based on its description and images you have seen.  The picture should be about 15 cm by 15 cm.  Around the picture, write the name of the animal in bold letters, about 2 cm tall.  Finally, write 8 sentences, based on the facts for your animal, around the picture.


🐘 Woolly Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius)

  • Height: about 9–11 feet tall at the shoulders.

  • Length: up to 13–15 feet long.

  • Weight: around 6 tons (as heavy as a school bus).

  • Appearance: thick, shaggy fur (brown or reddish), long curved tusks.

  • Skin: had a layer of fat under the skin to stay warm.

  • Habitat: cold grasslands called “mammoth steppe” in North America, Europe, and Asia.

  • Diet: ate grasses, flowers, shrubs, and mosses.

  • Teeth: flat teeth for grinding plants.

  • Birth: calves were born with small, short hair and stayed close to their mothers.

  • Young: drank mother’s milk until old enough to eat plants.

  • Lifespan: about 60 years.

🐘 Mastodon (Mammut americanum)

  • Height: 8–10 feet tall at the shoulders.

  • Length: 10–14 feet long.

  • Weight: 4–6 tons.

  • Appearance: looked like elephants, but shorter and stockier.

  • Tusks: straighter and sometimes longer than mammoths.

  • Skin/fur: thick hair but less shaggy than mammoths.

  • Habitat: forests, swamps, and woodlands.

  • Diet: mainly leaves, twigs, branches, and pine cones.

  • Teeth: had cone-shaped teeth for chewing woody plants.

  • Birth: usually one calf at a time.

  • Young: mothers cared for calves in family groups.

  • Lifespan: up to 50 years.

🦥 Giant Ground Sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii)

  • Height: about 10 feet tall when standing.

  • Weight: up to 2,000 pounds.

  • Appearance: long claws, short snout, shaggy fur.

  • Habitat: forests, grasslands, and caves.

  • Diet: plants, leaves, twigs, and bark.

  • Movement: slow on the ground but could stand to reach trees.

  • Claws: up to 8 inches long, used for pulling down branches.

  • Birth: gave birth to live young, usually one baby.

  • Young: stayed with the mother until older.

  • Special fact: name “Megalonyx” means “giant claw.”

  • Lifespan: unknown, but likely several decades.

🐅 Saber-Toothed Cat (Smilodon fatalis)

  • Height: about 3 feet tall at the shoulder.

  • Length: 5–7 feet long.

  • Weight: 350–600 pounds.

  • Appearance: stocky body, short tail, long front legs, strong jaws.

  • Teeth: huge curved canines up to 7 inches long.

  • Habitat: grasslands, forests, and plains.

  • Diet: hunted bison, horses, young mammoths, and other large animals.

  • Hunting style: ambush predator (hid and pounced).

  • Birth: gave birth to live cubs, like modern cats.

  • Young: cubs stayed with mother until they could hunt.

  • Special fact: not related to tigers — different family.

🦁 American Lion (Panthera atrox)

  • Height: about 4 feet tall at the shoulder.

  • Length: up to 12 feet long (including tail).

  • Weight: 500–900 pounds (much bigger than modern lions).

  • Appearance: looked like a very large lion, possibly without a mane.

  • Habitat: grasslands, forests, and caves across North America.

  • Diet: bison, horses, mammoths, and other Ice Age animals.

  • Hunting style: probably hunted alone or in small groups.

  • Teeth: sharp teeth for tearing meat.

  • Birth: live young, like modern lions.

  • Young: raised in dens and fed by their mothers.

  • Special fact: one of the largest cats to ever live.

🛡️ Glyptodon (Glyptotherium floridanum)

  • Height: about 5 feet tall.

  • Length: up to 10 feet long.

  • Weight: around 2 tons (as heavy as a car).

  • Appearance: giant armadillo-like body with a huge domed shell.

  • Shell: made of hard bony plates for protection.

  • Tail: sometimes covered in bony rings, used as a weapon.

  • Habitat: grasslands and open plains.

  • Diet: grasses and other plants.

  • Birth: live young, smaller with softer shells.

  • Young: shell hardened as they grew.

  • Special fact: too heavy to curl into a ball like modern armadillos.

🦖 Mosasaurus

  • Length: up to 50 feet long.

  • Weight: 15 tons or more.

  • Appearance: long, torpedo-shaped body, paddle-like flippers, powerful tail.

  • Skin: scaly like a lizard.

  • Head: big jaws with sharp teeth, looked like a crocodile mixed with a lizard.

  • Habitat: oceans and inland seas (like the Western Interior Seaway in North America).

  • Diet: fish, turtles, sharks, and even other mosasaurs.

  • Hunting style: fast swimmer, grabbed prey with huge jaws.

  • Birth: gave birth to live young in the water (not eggs).

  • Young: born able to swim right away.

  • Special fact: a marine reptile, not a dinosaur.