One of the main differences between the elephant and the mammoth is that only the two elephant species are alive today, the African elephant and Indian elephant. All mammoths are extinct. Many scientists believe the extinction of mammoths occurred approximately 12,000 years ago when ancient Native Americans arrived on the North American continent. When humans arrived, they overhunted mammoths. Some scientists also believe mammoths became extinct from climactic changes when the Ice Age ended and global temperatures grew warmer. A third theory suggests their extinction was due to a combination of these two factors.
Modern-day African elephants are native to Africa, while Indian elephants live in the India subcontinent. Prior to their extinction, North America -- modern-day United States and Canada -- were where mammoths lived. The first mammoths to appear in the world were believed to exist in Africa. African mammoths ceased to exist less than 4 million years ago. Descendants of these mammoths migrated to Eurasia, but left for North America via the Bering Strait approximately 35,000 years ago. Paleontologists have also excavated dwarf mammoth remains at the Channel Islands near modern-day California.
One of them most visible differences between mammoths and elephants was the amount fur on the mammoth's skin. Elephants have short hairs, while mammoths had thick fur coats on their bodies. The major reason for the mammoth's dense layer of fur was for a protection because of its location in North America; temperatures were colder in North American prior and during the Ice Age.
Both mammoths and elephants are herbivorous, meaning they restrict their diets to vegetation. However, these animals have differences with their teeth structure. A set of mammoth's teeth were compressed together by a substance known as cementum. Mammoths also had shallow-rooted teeth, called hyspodants, but they were tall, which made it easier to grind grass. Elephants grind their grass by moving their teeth in a forward-backward motion. Also, elephants grow their teeth from the back of their mouth; the teeth make their way to the mouth's front area.
Tusks serve as the incisor teeth for mammoths and elephants. Both species use their tusks for digging and chipping bark off trees. Mammoths usually had larger tusks than elephants. Some mammoth tusks weighed over 150 pounds and were as long as 16 feet. Also, mammoth tusks curved towards its face, while elephant tusks shoot straight out from its face.