MAMOTH AHC

Assume that Mamoths were as capable of human exploitation as Asian elephants how useful could they be to a human society either in work or in war?
 
Assume that Mamoths were as capable of human exploitation as Asian elephants how useful could they be to a human society either in work or in war?

Hannibal might have had a better time crossing the Alps with mammoths.

But, basically, they'd be elephants: good for heavy labor and, for awhile, for intimidation on the battlefield, but, ultimately still too slow at reproduction to match the economics of oxen or horses. I think their impact on history would be relatively minimal.

Of course, you have to wonder whether their hair might have been worth anything: they'd certainly produce a lot of it, so Arctic peoples might go around collecting it in the springtime, like some Inuit in Canada do with qiviut (muskox wool). If immature mammoths produce wool, the economics of mammoth domestication might just work out (but I doubt it).
 
It all depends on their temperament, Asian Elephants are quite docile and therefore easy to domesticate whereas African Elephants are more aggressive and have never been domesticated. I think genetically mammoths are closely related to Asian Elephants but that doesn't in itself mean they were suitable for domestication.
 
It all depends on their temperament, Asian Elephants are quite docile and therefore easy to domesticate whereas African Elephants are more aggressive and have never been domesticated. I think genetically mammoths are closely related to Asian Elephants but that doesn't in itself mean they were suitable for domestication.

Actually, asian elephants arent domesticated, but rather tamed.

Yes the genetic difference is more than horse vs zebra, where the one is domesticatible and the other isnt, so wed have no guarantee that mamoths would be usable.

However, some variants of african elephants apparently WERE tameable, so positing for a tl that mammoths were, too is certainly plausible.

Your biggest problem is the time frame. Getting mammoths to survive in any place late enough that people nearby are taming or domesticating anything more than dogs is the really really tough part.
 

mowque

Banned
Your biggest problem is the time frame. Getting mammoths to survive in any place late enough that people nearby are taming or domesticating anything more than dogs is the really really tough part.

What are they going to feed them? And don't Mammoths migrate?
 
Actually, asian elephants arent domesticated, but rather tamed.

Yes the genetic difference is more than horse vs zebra, where the one is domesticatible and the other isnt, so wed have no guarantee that mamoths would be usable.

However, some variants of african elephants apparently WERE tameable, so positing for a tl that mammoths were, too is certainly plausible.

Your biggest problem is the time frame. Getting mammoths to survive in any place late enough that people nearby are taming or domesticating anything more than dogs is the really really tough part.

Thanks for the correction, wrong word on my part! :eek:

Mammoths did hang on until relatively recently, the Wrangel Island population held on until about 1,700 BC which is centuries after the Great Pyramid was built so they almost made it into the modern world. So if you could have a race of Inuit who had the necessary skills to tame and utilise them. If they were an important resource to them then they would protect them from hunting so as to ensure that there is a viable population for the future. How plausible this is I've honestly no idea and it would take PoD's from much earlier.
 
Your biggest problem is the time frame. Getting mammoths to survive in any place late enough that people nearby are taming or domesticating anything more than dogs is the really really tough part.

definitely. Elephant taming is something you do when you already have a civilization that produces a lot of food, to get the sheer animal power. As I (vaguely) understand it, Asian elephants were tamed by using already tamed elephants to confine/hold them in place. But when you're doing it for the first time, you're pretty much stuck with getting a group of young ones and going through the long process of feeding them and raising them; doing this with mammoths when they were still around is a bit of a problem because everyone on earth is still in the stone age and not farming much yet, and there's not really a need for mammoth muscle yet. If we somehow overcome all these hurdles and get tamed mammoths in Europe.. then megalithic building just gets a lot easier...
 
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