They were furry and cute; they were also mammoths. A group of animals are believed to have roamed the island of Crete a long time ago. Their remains had been discovered a century ago, but only a recent discovery settles the debate about the size of the animals.\
It turns out that the adults of the species were the size of a modern elephant calf, making it just a meter of so tall – even less than the average height of humans. The discovery instrumental in making this conclusion is a collection of teeth from the animals that lay scattered all over the island.
Dwarfism – the evolutionary basis
Evolutionary scientists call this dwarfism. The animal lineage suddenly undergoes a shrinkage in the size of its individual due to certain environmental factors. Dwarfism is particularly pronounced in island environments. Scarcity of food is the primary cause. Insular location also prevents vast migrations of animal species, as can be often seen in animal herds on landmasses.
Another factor contributing to the reduction in size is the lack of predators. If you don’t need size to fend off predators, you’re probably better off smaller, as it takes much less maintenance.
So, while their cousins on the landmass enlarged in size, the insular individuals became smaller. Just insular dwarfism taken to the extreme.
Not the woolly mammoths
It should be noted that these animals were not woolly mammoths, like the imagination conjures up. These were mammoths suited to warmer climates, and the temperatures in Crete never dipped very low.