Mastodon group consisted of adult females and young, living in bonded groups called mixed herds. The males abandoned the mixed herds once reaching sexual maturity and lived either alone or in male bond groupings. As in modern elephants, there probably was no seasonal synchrony of mating activity, with both males and females seeking out each other for mating when sexually active. Mastodons have been characterized as predominantly browsing animals. Most accounts of gut contents have identified coniferous twigs as the dominant element in their diet. Other accounts (Burning tree mastodon) have reported no coniferous content and suggest selective feeding on low,
Early history of fantasy a staple of modern fantasy. The "Baital Pachisi" ("Vikram and the Vampire") is a collection of various fantasy tales set within a frame story about an encounter between King Vikramāditya and a Vetala, an early mythical creature resembling a vampire. According to Richard Francis Burton and Isabel Burton, the "Baital Pachisi" "is the germ which culminated in the "Arabian Nights", and which inspired the "Golden Ass" of Apuleius, Boccacio's "Decamerone," the "Pentamerone," and all that class of facetious fictitious literature." Classical mythology is replete with fantastical stories and characters, the best known (and perhaps the most relevant to modern fantasy)