woolly mammoth

noun

|Updated on: 22 Jun 2018

Definition of woolly mammoth

: a heavy-coated mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) formerly inhabiting the colder parts of the northern hemisphere

See woolly mammoth defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of woolly mammoth from the Web

An extremely rare woolly mammoth bone has been found on a beach in Scotland.

— james rogers, Fox News, "Extremely rare woolly mammoth bone found on beach," 13 June 2018
Summon up a picture for us from the mists of time, and explain the importance of the woolly mammoth.

— National Geographic, "When, How Did the First Americans Arrive? It’s Complicated.," 9 June 2018
Think trilobites to the woolly mammoth with T. rex in between.

— susan faust, San Francisco Chronicle, "Roundup of new children’s books," 24 May 2018
De-extinction projects are already underway for the passenger pigeon and the woolly mammoth.

— ben crair, Smithsonian, "Why Did the Carolina Parakeet Go Extinct?," 19 Apr. 2018
The effort resembles in some ways the popular de-extinction projects that are attempting to resurrect the woolly mammoth or the passenger pigeon; all want to reverse extinction and in some cases, fix the damage humans have done.

— alessandra potenza, The Verge, "Inside the high-tech plot to save the northern white rhino from extinction," 6 Apr. 2018
For starters, unlike the woolly mammoth, the northern white rhino is not extinct — yet.

— alessandra potenza, The Verge, "Inside the high-tech plot to save the northern white rhino from extinction," 6 Apr. 2018
Five-year building plans have gone the way of dinosaurs, dodo birds and woolly mammoths.

— kevin allen, USA TODAY, "Ron Francis lost GM title because NHL has run out of patience," 8 Mar. 2018
Something as spectacular as reviving the woolly mammoth deserved better.

— Anchorage Daily News, "Book review: Fascinating science gets buried in ‘Woolly’," 21 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'woolly mammoth.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.