The American mastodon, Mammut americanum, is one of the very best-known prehistoric mammals. Many complete skeletons have been found throughout the North American continent, from this one-tusked male at the Royal Ontario Museum to this female and calf from the La Brea Tar Pits of California. And yet the mighty mastodon has been largely overlooked by toy companies in favour of its more famous relative, the woolly mammoth.
History: One of the biggest Proboscideans of all time lived during the Early Miocene through to mid Pleistocene, yet it is largely forgotten by the general public. The Woolly Mammoth gets all the attention and love, with appearances in film, literature, and in toy form. The family of Deinotheriidae feels ancient as it branched away from the current extant species of Elephants earlier than most of the other families.
The pungent stench of masuclinity crawls along the edge of the forest. Leaves rustling softly as a vicious looking creatures ambles through the undergrowth. The young Deinotherium male looks up and hesitates as the potential adversary strides onto the grassy clearing. Much advanced in age and experience, the rival is much smaller then the young male, but also much bulkier.
Back in 2012 a representative from the toy vendor VictoryBuy joined the Dinosaur Toy forum looking for member feedback with regards to reissuing the Tim Mee set of toy dinosaurs, originally produced in the 1970’s. Flashforward to 2014 and VictoryBuy once again stopped by the forum, this time to announce the actual release of the set.
Eofauna only came onto the scene in 2017, and after five years, their wares can still be counted on just two hands. But darned if they haven’t shown themselves to be the very best company of all when it comes to prehistoric proboscideans. They started out with the steppe mammoth, then the straight-tusked elephant Palaeoloxodon, then Deinotherium, and for 2022, they’ve bestowed on us the amebelodont known as Konobelodon in addition to their terrific Diplodocus.
A Swiss company which produces outdoor clothing and equipment named itself „Mammut“ after the iconic Mammoth, probably because the prehistoric giants were as well equipped against cold and rainy weather conditions as you are supposed to be if you wear a Mammut product. The company even leads a black mammoth in their logo.
