Linda, Morrison, Age 10, Of Tigard, Ore., for her question:

What is a mammoth?

You will not find this fellow in a zoo, for he has not been around for thousands of years. But we remember him because he was one of the largest animals to walk the earth. We borrow his name when we want to describe something very big. Mammoth caves of Kentucky and Mammoth hot springs of Yellowstone were named because they are big  big as the long ago mammoth was big.

The last of the mammoths said goodbye to the world some 25,000 years ago when the cruel glaciers of the ice ages crept down from the north polar regions. Some of the mammoths were trapped in the ice. Their huge bodies were found in modern times, still frozen in the northern glaciers. The tusks and the teeth and the whole bony skeletons of mammoths have been found buried in the ground.

The fossil remains tell us the story of this ancient giant. He was related to our elephants, and his humped shoulders stood 13 feet or more above the ground. He was taller than two tall men, and his huge, bulky body was covered with shaggy hair. He had apair of tusks that curved up and around in half circles, and these mighty tusks were often 13 feet long.

The mammoth got his start in Asia millions of years ago and thrived there in great herds. Then came the ice ages, and much of the world's water supply was frozen solid. This took water from the oceans, and the sea level became lower. Islands and strips of dry land appeared from the floor of the sea. A bridge of dry land appeared between Asia and America. Later, when the ice melted, this land bridge was covered by the waters of the Bering strait.

The mammoth of Asia with his herd of relatives was a wonderer. He found the bridge of land and crossed over from the old to the new world. He and his herd became Americans about one million years ago. He wandered south, seeking food and warmth. For, though he wore a woody coat, the mammoth, like his elephant cousins, was not fitted for a cold climate.

But the huge fellow was unlucky. The glaciers of the ice age crept farther and farther south with every year. The greenery on which he fed was crushed and frozen, and a herd of these large animals needed tons of plant food every day. Somehow he managed to survive as four ice ages came and went; then he and all his relatives perished.

Out elephants and the extinct mammoth descended from the same ancestors who lived more than a million years ago. The mammoth branch of the family perished, but the family tree dates back for some 50 million years. The original elephant ancestor was a small animal with a long snout. He lived when the ancestors of our noble horse were no bigger than collie dogs.