Fossil elephants are a Suffolk speciality. We have the most complete range of mastodons, elephants, and mammoths in Britain. Mastodon teeth are found in the Coralline, Red and Norwich Crags, for example at Sutton. Teeth of the Southern Elephant have been found in the Red Crag at Trimley and the Norwich Crag at Holton and Easton Bavents. Straight-tusked Elephant remains have been found in interglacial deposits at Hoxne, Brundon and Stutton. Woolly Mammoth teeth and bones are common in the gravels of the Gipping, Lark and Waveney valleys.

The Suffolk Mammoth Trail consists of a series of interpretive panels which place these charismatic proboscideans, with their contemporary flora and fauna, into the context of the changing climate of the last 2.5 million years. All seven panels were in place by the end of 2006. Each panel includes a reconstruction (artwork by Beverly Curl) and photographs of fossils (from the site) in the Ipswich Museum collection. The sites are: Toby’s Walks picnic site, Blythburgh; Lower Holbrook car park; Rodbridge picnic site, Long Melford; Bobbits Lane car park, Wherstead; Homersfield village green; Lackford Lakes Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserve; Needham Lakes picnic site, Needham Market. For more information on these and the planning and funding of the Mammoth trail project see The Suffolk Geodiversity Project by Tim Holt-Wilson in Suffolk Natural History 2005 Volume 41.

The GeoSuffolk Mammoth Trail leaflet which publicises the panels is available from Ipswich Museum or it can be downloaded from www.geosuffolk.co.uk