Thin-enamel dental specialization in mammoth evolution: An example of direction selection

Abstract The mammoth lineage has been determined through the author's original method studying the last generation of molars (M3). The tendencies of the evolutionary development of the mammoth in the Quaternary were caused by the impact of selection pressure. One of the major adaptation directions in mammoth evolution was the decrease in enamel thickness of dental plates, which at the same time was followed by increase of plate frequency and decrease of plate length of the molar crown. The observed morphological changes in molars were caused by significant changes of climatic conditions during the Pleistocene. The second half of the Middle Pleistocene and the Late Pleistocene were manifested by adaptive radiation of mammoth forms in Eurasia, when the role of “thin-enamel adaptations” in the progressive development of the lineage was the most obvious.