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Elephantidae is a family of large, herbivorous proboscidean mammals which includes the living elephants (belonging to the genera Elephas and Loxodonta), as well as a number of extinct genera like Mammuthus (mammoths) and Palaeoloxodon. They are large terrestrial mammals with a snout modified into a trunk and teeth modified into tusks.
Dwarf elephants of uncertain descent lived in Crete, Cyclades and Dodecanese, while dwarf mammoths are known to have lived in Sardinia. [26] The Columbian mammoth colonised the Channel Islands and evolved into the pygmy mammoth. This species reached a height of 1.2–1.8 m (4–6 ft) and weighed 200–2,000 kg (440–4,410 lb).
In 1796, French biologist Georges Cuvier was the first to identify woolly mammoth remains not as modern elephants transported to the Arctic, but as an entirely new species. He argued this species had gone extinct and no longer existed, a concept that was not widely accepted at the time.
Primelephas is a genus of Elephantinae [1] that existed during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs. The name of the genus suggests 'first elephant'. These primitive elephantids are thought to be the common ancestor of Mammuthus, the mammoths, and the closely allied genera Elephas and Loxodonta, the Asian and African elephants, diverging some 4-6 million years ago. [2]
According to the IUCN, all elephant species are endangered. African forest elephants are listed as critically endangered , while African savanna and Asian elephants have been listed as endangered.
This week, meet orphan elephants that could lead to hybrid mammoths, discover a planet with a possible sibling, encounter an ancient type of mortal combat, and more.
Elephantoidea is a taxonomic group that contains the elephants as well as their closest extinct relatives, including stegodontids and "tetralophodont gomphotheres", the latter of which are otherwise placed in Gomphotheriidae.
Researchers have completed a comprehensive analysis of the woolly mammoth's genome and have pinpointed many specific ways in which it differs from that of their elephant relatives. Those include ...