Scale Explorer

Prehistoric

How tall is a woolly mammoth?

Woolly mammoth · Estimated adult size · Mammuthus primigenius

Shoulder height (estimated)
3–3.5 m 9.8–11 ft range
Height (Britannica estimate)
3–3.7 m 9.8–12 ft range
Mass (estimated)
4–6 t 4.4–6.6 US tons range
Mass (Britannica estimate)
5,500–7,300 kg 6.1–8 US tons range
Show
Dog (Labrador Retriever), Human, Gorilla, Woolly mammoth drawn to the same scaleDog (Labrador Retriever): height at withers 54.6–62.2 cm. Human: height 1.61–1.75 m. Gorilla: standing height (adult male) up to 1.8 m. Woolly mammoth: shoulder height (estimated) 3–3.5 m.Dog (Labrador Retriever): 54.6–62.2 cmHuman: 1.61–1.75 mGorilla: up to 1.8 mWoolly mammoth: 3–3.5 mWoolly mammoth3–3.5 mGorillaup to 1.8 mHuman1.61–1.75 mDog (Labrador Retriever)54.6–62.2 cm
Everything is drawn to the same scale, standing on the same ground line. Silhouettes are simplified outlines scaled to the measured dimension. A faded outline shows the top of a size range.

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Dimensions

MeasurementMetricImperialNotesSource
Shoulder height (estimated) 3–3.5 m 9.8–11 ft Estimated adult shoulder height. Range: varies [1]
Height (Britannica estimate) 3–3.7 m 9.8–12 ft Estimated standing height; Britannica gives about 3 to 3.7 metres (about 10 to 12 feet) tall. Range: varies [2]
Mass (estimated) 4–6 t 4.4–6.6 US tons Estimated body weight, depending on whether male or female; the museum says 'about four to five or six tonnes'. Range: varies [1]
Mass (Britannica estimate) 5,500–7,300 kg 6.1–8 US tons Estimated weight; Britannica gives 5,500 to 7,300 kg (about 6 to 8 tons). Range: varies [2]
Longest outer hair at least 70 cm at least 2 ft 4 in The coarse dark-brown outer hair grew more than 70 cm long in some individuals. Approximate [2]

About the woolly mammoth

The woolly mammoth was an Ice Age member of the elephant family, adapted to cold climates with a thick coat of hair, small ears, a layer of fat under the skin and spiral-curved tusks. The Natural History Museum, London says adults stood about 3 to 3.5 metres at the shoulder and weighed about 4 to 6 tonnes depending on sex, roughly between the sizes of modern Asian and African elephants. Its back was high at the shoulder and sloped down towards the tail.

  • Its tusks curved in a spiral, bending in two directions, unlike the gentle one-direction curve of living elephants' tusks. [1]
  • Southern and steppe mammoths were bigger still, weighing some 10 tonnes and standing up to four metres tall. [1]
  • Under its thick skin was a layer of insulating fat up to 8 cm (3 inches) thick, beneath a woolly undercoat about 2.5 cm deep. [2]
  • Island mammoths could be tiny: the Californian pygmy mammoth stood about 1.7 metres tall and the Sardinian mammoth about 1.5 metres. [1]

How many fit?

  • ≈ 1.7–2.2 × Human · height lined up end to end match the Woolly mammoth · shoulder height (estimated)
  • ≈ 44–77 × Human · body mass on the scales weigh as much as Woolly mammoth · mass (estimated)
  • ≈ 1.8 × Gorilla · standing height (adult male) lined up end to end match the Woolly mammoth · shoulder height (estimated)
  • ≈ 29–44 × Gorilla · mass (adult male, average) on the scales weigh as much as Woolly mammoth · mass (estimated)

Counts divide one sourced figure by another. "End to end" uses each object's main measurement; weight and volume rows appear only when both figures are sourced.

How it compares

  • 1.7–2.2× A woolly mammoth is about 1.7–2.2 times as tall at the shoulder as an average adult is tall. See side by side
  • 1.8× A woolly mammoth is about 1.8 times as tall at the shoulder as a gorilla is tall. See side by side
  • 2.2× A woolly mammoth is about 2.2 times as tall at the shoulder as a Holstein cow. See side by side
  • 2.5–3.3× A woolly mammoth is about 2.5–3.3 times as tall at the shoulder as an African lion. See side by side
  • 0.8–1.4× A woolly mammoth is roughly as tall at the shoulder as an African elephant: between 0.8 and 1.4 times as tall at the shoulder, depending on size. See side by side
  • 1/3.4 A school bus is about 3.4 times as long as a woolly mammoth is tall at the shoulder. See side by side

Factors compare the shoulder height (estimated) of a woolly mammoth with each object’s own main measurement (height for a human). Where a size varies, the factor is given as a range.

Notes on these figures

  • All sizes are estimates from fossils and frozen remains.
  • The Natural History Museum's spoken estimate 'about four to five or six tonnes' (varying with sex) is stored as a 4-6 t range.
  • Britannica's 3-3.7 m is described as how tall mammoths stood, without saying it is at the shoulder; the headline uses the Natural History Museum's explicit shoulder height.
  • The Royal BC Museum's pages were checked but gave no shoulder height or weight for the living animal (only 2 m tusks on its replica), so they were not used.

Sources

  1. Natural History Museum, London, Were all mammoths woolly?. Accessed 25 September 2026.
  2. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Woolly mammoth. Accessed 25 September 2026.

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