Mammoths, Mastodons And Other Prehistoric Elephants

Hi all,

Please share here your stamps and philatelic items show prehistoric elephants.

Polar philately exhibition, commemorative postmark shows Mammoth, Romania, 2004.

Same postmark on commemorative post card franked with 1966 stamp features Mammoth (Mamuthus trogonthrii)

The first stamp in the world features prehistoric animal was issued by India in 1951. The animal is Stegodon ganesa, lived approx. 11 million to 1 million years ago in South Asia, especially the Indian subcontinent.

Woolly Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), issued by Canada in 1994 in a set "Prehistoric Life in Canada - the Age of Mammals".

Woolly Mammoth and fossilized tusks and tooth, Jersey 2010.

This stamp was issued in a set of five stamps entitled Jersey Archaeology, commemorating the centenary of the excavations began at the site La Cotte de St. Brelade in 1910. Here it is on FDC.

The commemorative postmark features the Mammoth fossilized tusks.

Ukraine issued in 2017 a very attractive SS about Paleolithic period.

The left stamp shows Mammoth hunting.

FDC of the SS with commemorative postmark, sent from Ukraine to Germany.

Germany issued in 2025 a nice SS about "Caves and ice age art of the Swabian Alb", a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its prehistoric caves containing some of the world's oldest figurative art. Archaeological finds include ivory sculptures, animal carvings, and flutes dating back over 40,000 years, offering unique insights into early human creativity and culture.

The left margin of the SS feaures Mammoth carving.


Postal stationary issued by Germany in 2008, shows the same Mammoth carving appears on the SS.

Woolly Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), Cuba 2002 and 2008.

Mammoths, USA commemorative postmarks.

The evolutionary history of prehistoric elephants and their relatives in South Asia spans over 20 million years, beginning with Deinotherium indicum, a Miocene species with downward-curved lower tusks, not a true elephant but a distant relative. Following it came Gomphotherium, a four-tusked ancestor of modern elephants that lived from the Middle Miocene to Early Pliocene. Later, during the Pliocene and Pleistocene, the region was home to large stegodonts like Stegodon ganesa and Stegodon bombifrons, characterized by their long, straight tusks. In the Middle to Late Pleistocene, true elephants appeared, including Elephas hysudricus, believed to be an ancestor of the modern Asian elephant, and Elephas namadicus, one of the largest elephant species ever known, which lived until around 100,000 years ago.

Prehistoric elephants of Nepal, ordered by time range, issued by Nepal on July 7, 2015.
Deinotherium indicum ~20–5 mya
Gomphotherium sp. ~15–5 mya
Stegodon ganesa ~3.6–0.5 mya
Stegodon bombifrons ~2.5–1 mya
Elephas hysudricus ~1.5–0.1 mya
Elephas namadicus ~700,000-100,000 years ago

Mammoth hunting by Neanderthals, issued by France on April 19, 2008.

Mammoth on the first day commemorative postmark.

Woolly Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), Ireland, 1999.

Issued in SS shows different prehistoric animals of Ireland.

A selection of Mammoth stamps, mainly Woolly Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) from different countries, each was issued as one in a set of prehistoric animal stamps.

Prehistoric painting of a Woolly Mammoth, Cave of Rouffignac, France, engraved by Jacky Larriviere and issued in 2006 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the cave's paintings.

Yakutsk, the capital of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) in northeastern Siberia, Russia, hosts the Melnikov Permafrost Institute, a key center for studying permanently frozen ground. Founded in 1960, it uses underground labs to monitor permafrost conditions and assess climate change impacts in one of the coldest inhabited regions on Earth.

At the institute's entrance, a life-sized mammoth sculpture celebrates Yakutia's Ice Age heritage and the many well-preserved fossils found in local permafrost. It stands as both a scientific symbol and a cultural landmark. Here it is on two different postal stationaries issued by USSR in 1976 and 1986.

One of the earliest sets of prehistoric animal stamps was issued by Romania in 1966. It has 3 elephants.

- Steppe Mammoth (Mammuthus trogontherii)
- Southern Mammoth (Archidiskondon meridionalis)
- Deinotherium (Deinotherium gigantissimum) - distant relative of elephants



Issued in this set contains more three stamps show: Cave Bear, Steppe Bison and Irish Elk.