woolly mammoth

American  

noun

1. a shaggy-coated mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius, that lived in cold regions across Eurasia and North America during the Ice Age, known from fossils, cave paintings, and well-preserved frozen carcasses.

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Etymology

Origin of woolly mammoth

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

The company’s other de-extinction hopes include reviving the woolly mammoth, the dodo, and the thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 12, 2025

It has publicised its efforts to use similar cutting edge genetic techniques to bring back extinct animals including the woolly mammoth and the Tasmanian tiger.

From BBC • Apr. 8, 2025

But in the meantime, the bizarre case reminds me of something else: the well-publicized and often-lauded project to recreate a woolly mammoth, undertaken by a private biotech company called Colossal Biosciences.

From Slate • Mar. 16, 2024

The researchers note that their findings have relevant implications for international efforts to resurrect extinct species, including both the Tasmanian tiger and the woolly mammoth, as well as for studying pandemic RNA viruses.

From Science Daily • Sep. 19, 2023

She tried to make her brain tell her, but it lay frozen in her skull like a woolly mammoth deep in a glacier.

From "The Great Gilly Hopkins" by Katherine Paterson