Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Age of Myths, Gods and Empires => Topic started by: Steve F on May 09, 2012, 02:04:35 PM
-
Still a metre tall, mind you. Sadly, this article doesn't say how if they were around long enough for domestication, but it might be fun to give some 28mm cavemen a 15mm mammoth or two as a farm animal or pet.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18003093 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18003093)
And if we have miniature mammoths, can giant shrimp be far behind?
-
the first fossils were found around 1907!
Till now it was supposed that they were dwarf elephants similar to those found in some other islands like Telos or Cyprus. Thus they were named as elefas creticus and the height of the skeleton is 1,13m, some link:
http://www.holiday-crete.com/fauna_prehistanimal_en.html
http://www.paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=basicTaxonInfo&taxon_no=159787
But be careful:
The scientists of Museum of Natural History now believe that some of the fossils (i.e. teeth) belong to a dwarf mammoth which has to be "re"named as mammuthus cretensis. Unfortunately there is no evidence whether it could be domesticated since it used to live 1 million years BC.
Why the dwarf size? I believe that the climate change and habitat of Crete has lead this species to shrink in size.
OK no one really knows how it was, so you may use baby sized elephants or mamoths for their representation. As for the dwarf elephants, easily you can use baby elephants with tusks and since some have survived till 8000 yBP , it is easily to be supposed that some might have used for menagerie purpose or pets.
-
And if we have miniature mammoths, can giant shrimp be far behind?
The Bubba Gump Company would be interested in them. :D
-
Maybe they were hunted by Cretan Pygmys? With small bows and arrows? ;-)
Simon
-
I found some link ( a science paper, alas not free) with some interesting drawings:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018210000386