The living elephant species are contained within a single family, the Elephantidae, and are the sole remaining representatives of the mammalian order Proboscidea. Names
- Proboscidea derives from the proboscis, or trunk.
- elephant derives from the Greek words for a large arch, referring to the elephant’s arched back supported by pillar-like legs.
- Elephas and its relatives - including the living Asian elephant,
- Loxodonta - including the living African elephants
- Mammuthus - including the woolly mammoth
- (not to be confused with the very distantly related but similarly named proboscidean Mammut, the American mastodont).
- leading ultimately to Elephas maximus, the Asian elephant,
- first appears as a fossil in Ethiopia, 5.2 million years ago (mya).
- lineage produced a diversity of species in Africa, Europe and Asia.
- African Elephas ekorensis, from around 4.5-4 mya, appears to be close to the common ancestor of this radiation.
- Elephants entered Asia about 3 mya.
- inhabited northern India and Myanmar between about 2 and 1 mya, and is
- believed to be close to the ancestry of Elephas maximus.
- was of large size,
- massive tusks
- a well-developed double head-dome like Elephas maximus,
- remains of the hysudricus-maximus lineage
- half a million years old in the Middle East
- 120,000 years ago Elephas maximus is recorded on Java.
- An earlier form on Java
- lived from about 1 to 0.5 mya
- skull and dental anatomy appear too specialised to have given rise to the living species
No one has provided updates yet.