The Evolution of The Elephant

At least 45 million years ago there lived a small tapir-like mammal named Moeritherium.

The bones of this creature were discovered near Lake Moeris in Egypt, where it got its name.

It had enlarged incisors which were already developing into rudimentary tusks.. Most of the ‘offshoots’ of this creature have died out but there are many fossil remains that have been studied in great detail.

The only evolutionary offshoot to witness the emergence of human beings was *Elephantoidea.

Dwarf forms of elephant and certain mammoths (which may have died out as dwarf species in Siberia) became extinct.

After that time there were only three species of Elephant to survive. The famous wooly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), the Asian elephant (Elphas maximus) and the African elephant (Loxodonta Africana).

Many elephants before these times are known to have had four tusks but as the animals began to grow and evolve they lost the tusks from the lower jaws as their heads got bigger and their skulls spongier, they would have been unable to support such weight. Their noses and upper lip lengthened into the trunks we see today.

The Mammoth

Of all the famous prehistoric animals the mammoth, it seems, is the most well known.

The mammoths looked much bigger than our elephants today but in fact it was only about the size of one of our African elephants. It had a huge domed head which made it look taller and its fur was at least 70 cms long, giving it the appearance of an animal much larger . It’s tusks measured up to five metres and were quite capable of spiralling into a complete circle. They could have weighed up to 125 kilograms each.

It is now believed that mammoths survived longer than was previously thought. It was understood that the mammoths of Siberia and even Alaska died out ten thousand years ago, now it seems possible according to Soviet Investigators that it may have been as recent as 5 thousand years ago that the last mammoth roamed the earth.

It is not known exactly why this huge woolly beast did die out.

They were hunted and in some cases driven over cliffs and this would have contributed to part of their demise. Like elephants today, they had a long breeding cycle and like today where elephants are poached or taken from the wild to be trained and not bred, this would have led to orphans and even more deaths.

The climate was getting warmer too. It is believed the threat from hunting and the receding ice caps would have driven the mammoth north but because the coniferous forest belt was also edging that way the treeless tundra would have been wedged between it and the Arctic Ocean.

The Survivors

The Asian and African elephants were the only one to survive.

There are two subspecies of the African elephant

Loxodonta africana africana  is the largest of the two. An adult bull African elephant can stand up to 3.5 metres tall; the biggest known was 4.1 metres tall. They can weigh between 4 and 10 tons. Its ears are very large, used to cool the elephant down and to frighten any adversaries away. Both sexes of this genus have tusks. These tusks grow curved, long and thick.

The heaviest ever tusks to be found weighed 102.7 kilos. There are two ‘fingers’ at the end of their trunks which they use very dexterously to manoeuvre very small and very large objects. The elephants rump rises higher than it’s back and it’s head is very broad. The molars of the African Elephant have lozenge shaped ridges, quite different from their Asian Cousins.

Loxodonta africana cyclotis are much more compact, being no more than 2.4 metres tall. They still weigh in at 4 tons however. They have short tusks which grow downward or almost straight out and they are think and heavy. Instead of having triangular like ears like Loxodonta africana africana theirs are more rounded.

 The Asian Elephant (Elphas maximus)  is much smaller than the African. It rarely grows taller than 3 metres and weighs about 3 tons, although older domesticated elephants have been known to stand much taller and weigh over 4 tons.

The ears are quite small, not needing to be quite as big as the temperatures do not get quite as high as in Africa. Only 60 per cent of male Asian elephants carry tusks, which are usually short and light and the females do not have them at all. Unlike it’s cousin the Asian elephant only has one ‘finger’ on its lip at the tip of the trunk. It has an arched back and a domed forehead. Their molars have rasping surfaces with parallel ridges.

Loxodonta africana cyclotis - the African Forest Elephant

Shoulder height: up to 2.35 m

Typical features:

1. Flat forehead

2. Front legs noticeably longer than hind legs

3. Four hooves on each front foot, three on each hind foot

4. Small round ears

5. Two opposite fingers on the trunk

6. Females and males carry large tusks.

7. Slate blue grey skin, coloured pale brown by dirt and dust.
    

The lineage of the elephant

Left to right -

Moeritherium, Phiomia, Palaeomastodon, Gomphotherium, Deinotherium, Mastadon, Mammuthus, Loxodonta.

The body sizes in the above picture (The Life And Lore Of The Elephant - New Horizons)

are not accurate. The Mastadon was bigger than the Mammoth and the African elephant.

*Order: Proboscidea

Suborder: Moerithioidea*

Suborder: Deinotherioidea*

Suborder: Elephantoidea

Family: Gomphotheriidae*

Family: Mammutidae* (mastodonts)

Family: Elephantidae (elephants, mammoths*)

* Extinct

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Graphics ©2003 by Arco-Iris

Midi 'Big Sky' by Keith Spillman