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Elephantiasis is caused by obstruction of the lymphatic system, which results in the accumulation of a fluid called lymph in the affected areas. Functioning as part of the immune system, the lymphatic system helps to protect the body against infection and disease.
Mammoths, like their elephant cousins of today, would have been adapted to the warm climate they evolved in. In these climates, an elephant's biggest problem is getting rid of heat -- they do this with their big ears, through which many heat-porting blood vessels circulate. new study has found tiny genetic mutations that changed the way oxygen was delivered by its blood could be responsible for its tolerance to the cold climate. The woolly mammoth was an elephantid species and most closely related to today's Asian elephants.