Today from Bedtim Math: When Elephants Were Furry

When you think of furry animals, you probably don’t think of elephants. But take a look at the woolly mammoth, and you might think differently. This huge animal from tens of thousands of years ago had curved tusks and a long trunk, just like its elephant cousins -- but it also had wild, thick, 3-foot long shaggy hair all over its body. We’re guessing that that hairstyle did NOT smell good, but it helped the woolly mammoth live in extremely cold temperatures. And let’s not forget their giant tusks, which could grow up to 16 feet long -- maybe longer than your whole bedroom! While woolly mammoths don’t live today, some scientists think we could use their leftover frozen bones to bring new mammoths to life, maybe even in the next 10 years. So as crazy as that idea might be, we may have furry elephants again after all.

Now here’s some “hairy” math! 

Wee ones: Who weighs less, an 8-ton mammoth or a 5-ton elephant?

Little kids: Both girl and boy mammoths had tusks. If you had one boy and one girl, how many tusks did they have together? Bonus: Regular African elephants’ tusks reach “only” 10 feet. How much longer were the mammoth’s 16-foot tusks?

Big kids: Mammoths went extinct (died out) about 5 thousand years ago. How do you “spell” 5 thousand as a number? Bonus: The woolly mammoth’s hair was about 3 feet long. How does that stack up against your height in inches? (Reminder if needed: A foot has 12 inches.)

Answers:

Wee ones: The elephant.

Little kids: 4 tusks. Bonus: 6 feet longer.

Big kids: 5,000. Bonus: Different for everyone...subtract 36 from your height in inches, or subtract your height from 36 if your height is less.