"Notes on the State of Virginia," by Thomas Jefferson is divided into two parts. The first covers the recently discovered woolly mammoths in North America and the second is a written debate aimed at Count de Buffon who claimed that animals in Europe were generally larger than those found in America.
When covering the topic of the discovery of the mammoth, Jefferson states that they were largest known quadrupeds. Indian tradition claimed that mammoths were carnivores, and that some still existed in the Northern parts of America. In and around the Ohio river, an extensive number if extremely large tusks, grinders (molars) and skeletons were found. Accounts published in Europe supposed these discoveries to be similar to bones that were found in Siberia. Jefferson argued that "on the whole, there seem to be no certain vestiges of the existence of this animal further south than the salines last mentioned." Naturalists in Europe claimed that the tusks and skeletons that American's said to belong to woolly mammoths actually belonged to elephants and the grinders belonged to the common hippopotamuses. .
To this, Jefferson mentioned that the bones which were found were much larger than those of an elephant or hippopotamus, for in every instance, both the grinders and skeletons/tusks were found together; proving that they belonged to the same animal. Jefferson backed up his reasoning, noting that the skeletons were five to six times the cubic volume of an elephant. Also, the grinders are five times larger than the molars of an elephant. An elephant grinder has never been found in America, nor would one have been able to endure the temperatures of the locations where the skeletons were found; northern American winters would be too severe for an elephant. .
Jefferson said he found it easier to believe that an animal may have existed that resembled an elephant, but not necessarily the same species.
