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prettygoodwordmastodon (MAS-tuh-don) - n., a massive, elephant-like mammal of the genus Mammut that flourished worldwide from the Miocene through the Pleistocene epochs; a person of immense size or power.
More similar in built to a modern elephant than the mammoths were, but just as distantly related to either -- with long, curved upper tusks and, for males, short lower tusks. (Bizarrely, mastodons are genus Mammut, literally mammoth, but mammoths are Mammuthus -- go fig.) Name coined in 1806 by Georges Cuvier from Greek roots mastos, breast/nipple + odōn, tooth -- referring to the nipple-shaped projections on the molars.
---L.
More similar in built to a modern elephant than the mammoths were, but just as distantly related to either -- with long, curved upper tusks and, for males, short lower tusks. (Bizarrely, mastodons are genus Mammut, literally mammoth, but mammoths are Mammuthus -- go fig.) Name coined in 1806 by Georges Cuvier from Greek roots mastos, breast/nipple + odōn, tooth -- referring to the nipple-shaped projections on the molars.
---L.
