The St Ives life of an extinct animal is being explored in the Norris Museum’s latest exhibition.

Marvellous Mammoths, which started on Saturday, explores the lives of the mammals in the town, the rest of England and Siberia, using finds from the areas to demonstrate.

On display are tusks, mammoth teeth found in local quarries and a letter with links to Russia. There is a mammoth tooth to touch and a mammoth board game to play.

The exhibition was borne out of the interests of Dr Chris Thomas, who visited the museum and asked to take pictures of its mammoth hair under a microscope. He has since become a volunteer at the museum and looked closer at mammoths in the area.

Dr Thomas said: “Mammoths have captured our imagination thorough the centuries, their name is a byword for giants and we have been drawn to them from the first cave painting to the Ice Age movies. It is a delight to find out that they lived and roamed the countryside in our region, possibly for more than 3million years until relatively recently.”

Marvellous Mammoths runs until April 18.

The Hunts Post is backing the Norris Museum’s bid to raise £80,000 to help secure a £1.3million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Visit http://localgiving.com/charity/norrismuseum to donate.