Mammoth Size

Factual Questions
1

I recently watched a documentary show about extinct megafauna. Not surprisingly, this included a large bit on mammoths.

In the show they claimed the Columbian Mammoth was the biggest species, yet a fairly recent book I have claims the Steppe Mammoth was the biggest.

Interestingly, Wikipedia claims a third species, the Imperial Mammoth (Mammuthus imperator), was the biggest, and at 16 foot, this sounds about right. Wiki mentions some believe this to just be a large Columbian Mammoth though.

So who is right? What was the biggest species of mammoth? My feeling is Wikipedia is probably the most up to date on recent finds, but it’d be nice to have this confirmed.

Also, how do you actually pronounce “steppe”? Step? Steep? Stepy?

Thanks!

2

Steppe is pronounced “step”.

3

Thanks, Lemur - It’s difficult when you’ve only seen it in print.