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This category includes extinct members of the family Elephantidae. ... Pages in category "Prehistoric elephants" The following 24 pages are in this category, out of ...
Most genera and species in the family are extinct. The family was first described by John Edward Gray in 1821, [5] and later assigned to taxonomic ranks within the order Proboscidea. Elephantidae has been revised by various authors to include or exclude other extinct proboscidean genera.
Gomphotheres are an extinct group of proboscideans related to modern elephants.First appearing in Africa during the Oligocene, they dispersed into Eurasia and North America during the Miocene and arrived in South America during the Pleistocene as part of the Great American Interchange.
Three living species of elephant are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. Extinct members of Proboscidea include the deinotheres, mastodons, gomphotheres and stegodonts. The family Elephantidae also contains several extinct groups, including mammoths and Palaeoloxodon.
The genus contains the largest known species of elephants, over 4 metres (13 ft) tall at the shoulders and over 13 tonnes (29,000 lb) in weight, representing among the largest land mammals ever, including the African Palaeoloxodon recki, the European straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) and the South Asian Palaeoloxodon namadicus.
The North African elephant (Loxodonta africana pharaohensis) is an extinct subspecies of the African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana), or possibly a separate elephant species, that existed in North Africa, north of the Sahara, until it died out in Roman times.
Another extinct genus of elephant, Palaeoloxodon, is also recognised, which appears to have close affinities with African elephants and to have hybridised with African forest elephants. [13] Some species of the extinct Palaeoloxodon were even larger, all exceeding 4 metres in height and 10 tonnes in body mass, with P. namadicus being a ...
Deinotherium is an extinct genus of large, elephant-like proboscideans that lived from about the middle-Miocene until the early Pleistocene.Although its appearance is reminiscent of modern elephants, Deinotherium possessed a notably more flexible neck, with limbs adapted to a more cursorial lifestyle, as well as tusks which grew down and curved back from the mandible, as opposed to the forward ...