6 t13,200 lb
A big adult woolly mammoth bull weighed about 6 tonnes (roughly 13,200 lb), about the same as an African savanna elephant bull. That is the average for European bulls; Siberian bulls averaged about 4.5 t (9,900 lb) and cows 2.8 to 4 t. Every figure is an estimate from bones, and the heaviest known one reached about 8.2 tonnes.
| Siegsdorf mammoth, GermanyLargest known European bull, about 3.49 m (11 ft 5 in) tall | 8.2 t18,100 lb |
|---|---|
| European bull, averageAbout 3.15 m (10 ft 4 in) at the shoulder | 6 t13,200 lb |
| Siberian bull, averageAbout 2.8 m (9 ft 2 in) at the shoulder | 4.5 t9,920 lb |
| Adult cowUpper end; usually 2.8 to 4 t at 2.3 to 2.6 m tall | 4 t8,820 lb |
| Newborn calfAbout 200 lb | 90 kg198 lb |
| Lyuba, one-month-old calfWeight of the frozen mummy found in 2007 | 50 kg110 lb |
Adrian Lister of the Natural History Museum in London describes woolly mammoths as 3 to 3.5 m tall at the shoulder and about 4 to 6 tonnes, depending on sex. Bulls were much bigger than cows and, like elephants, kept growing for decades: males until about 40, females until about 25.
Size also changed with place. In his 2016 study of proboscidean body mass, Asier Larramendi put an average European bull at 3.15 m and 6 tonnes, the same as an African savanna bull. Bulls from northern Siberia averaged only about 2.8 m and 4.5 tonnes: as tall as an Asian elephant, but a little heavier for their height. Our 6 tonnes is a fully grown European bull, or a big Siberian one.
No adult mammoth has ever been weighed whole. Even the frozen carcasses from Siberia are incomplete or dried out, so weights come from skeletons: shoulder height is worked out from the leg bones, then mass from equations built on living elephants that were weighed. Larramendi also estimated the coat on its own at about 74 kg for the Taymir mammoth, a Siberian bull of about 3.9 t, and about 93 kg for the much larger Siegsdorf bull.
The largest well-known woolly mammoth is the Siegsdorf mammoth from Bavaria, a bull about 50 years old. Larramendi reconstructs it at 3.49 m (11 ft 5 in) at the shoulder and 8.2 tonnes (about 18,000 lb). He notes that big European bulls could pass 8 tonnes.
A few even larger bones are labelled as woolly mammoth in museum collections, including leg bones suggesting animals approaching 4 m tall. Larramendi thinks many of them were probably misidentified steppe mammoths. The giant Steinheim mammoth from Germany, about 3.89 m and 9.5 tonnes, is sometimes listed as a woolly mammoth, but it looks like an intermediate between the two species and some experts file it as a steppe mammoth.
The woolly mammoth was one of the smaller mammoths. Its ancestor, the steppe mammoth, and the earlier southern mammoth were the giants: the Natural History Museum gives them about 10 tonnes and up to 4 m tall, and Larramendi puts typical bulls at 4 m and 11 tonnes, with one specimen from Zhalainuoer in northern China at more than 13.5 tonnes.
The Columbian mammoth of North America, which lived at the same time as the woolly mammoth but further south, was also heavier. Larramendi estimates an average bull at 3.75 m and 9.5 tonnes. The US National Park Service at Waco Mammoth National Monument says it weighed up to 10 tons (20,000 lb), up to 8,000 lb more than a woolly mammoth.
The last woolly mammoths lived on Wrangel Island, off northeast Siberia, until about 4,000 years ago, long after mainland mammoths had died out. They are sometimes called dwarfs, but they were not much smaller than other Siberian mammoths: a 1.3 m wide pelvis from the island points to bulls of about 2.8 m and 4.5 tonnes.
An average European bull weighed about 13,200 lb (6 t) and an average Siberian bull about 9,900 lb (4.5 t). Cows weighed about 6,200 to 8,800 lb, and the Siegsdorf bull, the biggest known, about 18,000 lb.
Bulls stood about 2.8 to 3.5 m (9 ft 2 in to 11 ft 6 in) at the shoulder, depending on where they lived, and cows about 2.3 to 2.6 m (7 ft 7 in to 8 ft 6 in).
A newborn calf is estimated at about 90 kg (200 lb). Lyuba, a calf about one month old when she died some 42,000 years ago, was found frozen in Russia’s Yamal Peninsula in 2007 and weighs about 50 kg (110 lb), about the size of a large dog.
A typical bull’s tusk was 2.4 to 2.7 m long and weighed about 45 kg (99 lb), while a cow’s weighed about 9 kg. Guinness World Records lists a 4.2 m (13 ft 9 in) tusk from Siberia’s Kolyma River weighing 84 kg (185 lb), and a 2020 study of Siberian tusks reported one of 121 kg (267 lb).
Not really. An average European woolly mammoth bull was about the same height and weight as an African savanna elephant bull, around 3.2 m and 6 t. Siberian mammoths were closer in height to Asian elephants, though a bit heavier.
Last checked October 2, 2026.
