During the night, an old hulking Smilodon had spotted a baby mammoth that had wondered away from its mother. It attacked the calf before mama saw what was happening. The mother charged at the cat making it scatter, but the damage was done, the calf collapsed to the icy ground succumbing to its injuries.
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.
