Megafauna - or giant animals that our ancestors encountered and competed with tens of thousands of years ago - is a fascinating aspect of the last Ice Age. The first silver coin from the Czech Mint's thematic series resembles a mammoth.

When we say that something is mammoth, we think of a thing of gigantic proportions. Although there is an idea that prehistoric mammoths were even larger than modern elephants, most specimens were comparable to the Indian elephant. But that doesn't change the fact that the ancient squamates were formidable. A male woolly mammoth, for example, measured 3.5 metres at the withers and weighed up to 8 tonnes. Its distinctive tusks grew to a length of 4 metres, with one weighing more than 100 kilograms. These enormously enlarged upper incisors were used to shovel away the snow under which food was found. Mammoths were herbivorous. They lived on the grassy steppes and tundra of Europe, Asia and the Americas, where they migrated in herds to winter and summer pastures. They were perfectly adapted to the cold. They were protected by a thick layer of subcutaneous fat and a rusty brown coat of hair up to 90 centimetres long. Ironically, the end of the Ice Age was the cause of their extinction. They were accustomed to cold winters with little precipitation, but as the snow cover grew thicker and warmer, they were unable to get food. Another likely culprit in their demise was man. As carvings and cave paintings show, our ancestors valued mammoths, but the abundance of remains found suggests they were not just occasional prey. They were hunted extensively, using camouflaged pits. The hunters made the most of the mammoth carcass, using the skin, bones and tusks to build tents, the tendons to make tools, the meat to dry for storage, ...

Medali maker MgA. Tereza Eisnerová dedicated the reverse side of the coin to a faithful representation of a mammoth - with thick fur and majestic tusks. The inscription gives the Latin name of the prehistoric creature MAMMUTHUS. The surrounding landscape is covered with transparent enamel, evoking the atmosphere of the Ice Age. As the coins of the Czech Mint are issued with the foreign license of the island of Niue, they also bear its national emblem, the nominal value of 5 DOLLARS (NZD) and the year of issue 2025 on the obverse side.

The medal is supplemented with a thematic brochure.