Mastodons (
Greek: μαστός "breast" and ὀδούς, "tooth") are any species of extinct
mammutid proboscideans in the genus
Mammut, distantly related to
elephants, that inhabited
North and
Central America during the late
Miocene or late
Pliocene up to their extinction at the end of the
Pleistocene 10,000 to 11,000 years ago. Mastodons lived in herds and were predominantly forest dwelling animals that fed on a mixed diet obtained by
browsing and
grazing with a seasonal preference for browsing, similar to living elephants.