Battle scars on male mastodon tusks show these Ice Age giants were not the peaceful creatures once thought, according to new findings.
The scars reveal they fought in brutal combat each year during seasonal phases of heightened sexual activity and aggression.
The discovery, announced at a recent Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in Ontario, counters the view that now-extinct mastodons were peaceful, passive creatures that rarely engaged in battles.
Actually, there's a bit about people butchering the things, but it doesn't seem particularly related.