Editing Pygmy mammoth (section)

{{Short description|Species of mammoth}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Pygmy mammoth
| fossil_range = [[Late Pleistocene]] {{fossil range|0.08|0.013}}
| image = Mammuthus exilis.jpg
| image_caption = Skeleton at the [[Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History]]
| image2 = Pygmy mammoth model - Cleveland Museum of Natural History - 2014-12-26 (20426146573).jpg
| image2_caption = Model of a pygmy mammoth (front) at the [[Cleveland Museum of Natural History]]
| genus = Mammuthus
| species = exilis
| authority = (Stock & Furlong, 1928)<ref>{{cite journal |author=Chester Stock and E. L. Furlong |year=1928 |title=The Pleistocene elephants of Santa Rosa Island, California |journal=Science |volume=68 |issue=1754 |pages=140–141 |doi=10.1126/science.68.1754.140 |bibcode = 1928Sci....68..140S |pmid=17772244 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/232284955.pdf }}</ref>
}}

The '''pygmy mammoth''' or '''Channel Islands mammoth''' ('''''Mammuthus exilis''''') is an [[extinct]] [[species]] of [[dwarf elephant|dwarf mammoth]] native to the northern [[Channel Islands (California)|Channel Islands]] off the coast of southern California during the [[Late Pleistocene]]. It was descended from the [[Columbian mammoth]] (''M. columbi'') of mainland North America, which are suggested to have colonised the islands around 250–150,000 years ago.  At only {{convert|1.72|-|2.02|m|ft|abbr=on}} tall at the shoulder, it was around 17% the size of its mainland ancestor. The species became extinct around 13,000 years ago, co-inciding with major environmental change and the arrival of humans in the Channel islands.