Does history progress? Is an elephant really "better" than a mammoth?

No matter what I think history always progresses even though there might be some mistakes, regrets, or difficulties along the way. Mainly I think this because over time people learn from their mistakes and then become better. The same mistake may be made to finally get it right but in the end I still think there is some sort of gain whether it is in knowledge or improvement. 

Elephants are known to be the descendants of mammoths or in Latin also known as the mammuthus. They are both in the same family called the elephantide which are made of terrestrial meaning animals that primarily or entirely on land. To be in the elephantide family the animals also have to be mammals with trunks and tusks. But, most of the species in this family are extinct including the mammoth. They were thought to originally been in an origin from Stegodon, but then developed in Africa. Wild elephants can now be found in thirty seven different countries in Africa and certain parts in Asia. However, you can also see elephants in zoos all over the world. Even though mammoths are extinct, elephants and mammoths are still very similar. The mammoths’ trunks had two finger-like projections such as the African elephants have now and their teeth were flat like the Asian elephants’. Elephants aren’t exactly better; they are just used for different reasons. The mammoth were used for their long hair for clothes and shelter but also their meat for food and tusks for weapons. Now in some places elephants are used to help carry wood and transportation. They are being hunted for their ivory which is the main component in the teeth and tusks of animals. The elephants’ habitat is also being destroyed and diminishing caused by human activity. Soon elephants could also become extinct just like the mammoth are now if people don’t become more aware of their effects on the environment and the animals that live in it.