American Mastodon

The American mastodon is a species of proboscideans that is indigenous to the forests and tree-filled plains across North America. It is the only living member of the genus Mammut, which was once a diverse genus during the Pliocene and Holocene. These animals are very similar to Asian elephants, but with short brown fur covering most of their bodies, having a little more curved back, slightly larger tusks, and having a more primitive teeth compared to African elephants. They are herbivorous and are mainly browsers which mainy feed on coniferous tree leaves and twigs, cypress leaves and twigs, and even on shrubs, but can also feed on grass if the trees in the area they're living in aren't common.

Just like elephants and mammoths, American mastodons live in social group consisting of adult females and young, living in bonded groups called mixed herds. The males often abandon the mixed herds once reaching sexual maturity and live either alone or in male bond groupings, depending on an individual. As in elephants and mammoths, there is no seasonal synchrony of mating activity, with both males and females seeking out each other for mating when sexually active.

Currenly, the American mastodon is listed as Least Concern due to conservation efforts from conservationists who are trying to preserve this species. They were once poached by European colonists in 1700s to 1940s for tusks and ivory, they were listed as Vulnerable due to this event, but due to conservation and laws prohibiting the hunt on North American proboscideans, the American mastodons have recovered and their populations have reached higher than they were during the last Ice Age to 1600s. But due to this overpopulation, American mastodons are causing some deforestations in some forests in their range, so some people try to cull some population to help preserve many forests in danger of deforestation from American mastodons. The American mastodons once had fear of sapient species/beings, but over time, American mastodons became more bold and started to spread into settlements, which caused conflicts, until in 1978, a law was made to prevent cruelty towards American mastodons and no longer fought against the mastodons ever since, and the American mastodons are now the most common large megafauna of North America.