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Martha is a female woolly mammoth living with an African elephant herd at Prehistoric Park. She was rescued by Nigel Marven from human hunters in the Early Holocene.
Biography[]
A Mammoth Undertaking[]
Martha lived in Siberia during the Early Holocene. Because of how rare mammoths had grown by then, she travelled around with only a single sister. However, her sister was violently killed by primitive human hunters, who also jammed a spear into Martha's side.
Shortly after her sister was killed, Nigel Marven found her, in poor condition. He and his team tranquilised her and set up a camp around her for the night. During the night, the camp was plagued by grey wolves and hyaenas looking for meals, as well as the human hunters, back for their kill.
The following morning, Martha managed to get back on her feet. Nigel managed to get her to leave her dead sister and go through the time portal to the safety of Prehistoric Park. As soon as Martha arrived at the park, she was taken to a temporary holding pen and tranquilised, so Head Vet Suzanne could treat her wound. Suzanne managed to get the broken spear head out of the blubber, and the mammoth was taken to her new home, Mammoth Mount. The team christened her "Martha" after releasing her.
Martha recieving a haircut from Suzanne.
Despite her wound being operated on, Martha refused to eat the hays and grasses offered to her. This prompted Nigel to return to Siberia, further in the past, to find out what woolly mammoths ate. Although he returned with fresh ice age grasses, she still refused to eat. Remembering that mammoths are social animals, Nigel figured out that Martha was refusing to eat out of loneliness. He, Suzanne and Head Keeper Bob decide to introduce her to their herd of African elephants. The attempt goes well, and Martha was seemingly accepted into the elephant herd, and began to eat again.
Dinobirds[]
When a heatwave hits the park, Martha suffers from the heat, as she is an ice age creature: she is adapted to survive in freezing temperatures, with thick blubber and hair, and small ears, to conserve heat. The park had to be built in the tropics (specifically South Africa) to make it suitable for the dinosaurs and other reptiles, but Nigel quickly realises it is not suitable for Martha. To rectify this, he has Suzanne clip Martha's hair. Whilst she is doing this, the mammoth sneezes all over her and her staff, to their disgust. Martha is presumably more comfortable at the park after this.
Supercroc[]
Although the elephant herd tolerated her, they had not yet fully accepted her, and she was not allowed to play with the matriarchs calf. Because of this, Martha began to become depressed again.
Martha attempts to fend off Matilda.
During the mass breakout caused by a rampaging titanosaur, the sauropod left Mammoth Mount and the elephant paddock untouched. However, Matilda the Tyrannosaurus, whose enclosure was destroyed, attacked the herd and targeted the calf. Using natural hunting techniques, Matilda managed to separate the calf from all the other elephants. Martha, however, rushed to the calf's defense, ready to fight Matilda off. Before Matilda could attack, Nigel lured her after himself.
Because she saved the matriarchs calf, Martha was allowed to play with the younger elephant, and was finally fully accepted into the herd.
Behind the scenes[]
The animatronic head used for Martha during her first scene with the elephant herd was recognised by the real matriarch as an elephant, and she accepted the head into the herd.[1] The head was also used with the baby elephant before filming began, to get it accustomed to being around the large prop.[2]
List of appearances[]
- Prehistoric Park
- 102. A Mammoth Undertaking (first appearance)
- 103. Dinobirds
- 106. Supercroc
Notes and references[]
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