Curelom

A curelom is an animal mentioned, together with the cumom, in the text of the Book of Mormon::"And they also had horses, and asses, and there were elephants and cureloms and cumoms; all of which were useful unto man, and more especially the elephants and cureloms and cumoms." (sourcetext|source=Book of Mormon|book=Ether|chapter=9|verse=19)

According to Latter-day Saint belief, Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon from an ancient language. In this line of thinking, the words "curelom" and "cumom" were transliterated instead of translated, meaning that while the ancient word is roughly transmitted, the actual animal intended is ambiguous. The context may imply beasts of burden. Some Mormons have speculated about what the terms refer to, including:
*Mastodons or mammoths. Early Mormon apostle Orson Pratt identified cureloms as mammoths in the "Journal of Discourses" (12:339-340).
*An as yet undiscovered, probably extinct species.
*Some other South/Central American animal species with which Smith was unfamiliar such as the llama, alpaca, tapir, jaguar, or monkey. For a Mormon view on the possibility of renaming animals in the Book of Mormon, see this article on [http://www.fairlds.org/apol/brochures/anach1.pdf fairlds.org] .
*Another theory, although little known, theorizes that one of the creatures may be some sort of American buffalo.

Paleontologists have demonstrated that mastodons and mammoths became extinct thousands of years before the time when the Book of Mormon is set, but according to the Book of Mormon, this section takes place in the time of the scattering from the Tower of Babel::"Which Jared came forth with his brother and their families, with some others and their families, from the great tower, at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people, and swore in his wrath that they should be scattered upon all the face of the earth; and according to the word of the Lord the people were scattered." (sourcetext|source=Book of Mormon|book=Ether|chapter=1|verse=33)

Cureloms in Popular Culture

*Chris Heimerdinger, a popular LDS fiction novelist, chose to make cureloms mammoths in his time-traveling adventure "Tennis Shoes and the Feathered Serpent."