Elephantidae

Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae and the order Proboscidea; extinct relatives include mammoths and mastodons. Distinctive features of elephants include a long proboscis called a trunk, tusks, large ear flaps, pillar-like legs, and tough but sensitive grey skin. The trunk is prehensile, bringing food and water to the mouth and grasping objects. Tusks, which are derived from the incisor teeth, serve both as weapons and as tools for moving objects and digging. The large ear flaps assist in maintaining a constant body temperature as well as in communication. African elephants have larger ears and concave backs, whereas Asian elephants have smaller ears and convex or level backs.

Elephantidae

Muhammad Mahdi Karim Facebook The making of this document was supported by Wikimedia CH . ( Submit your project! ) Fo… · GFDL 1.2 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
elephantPBDB
Sits inside
ElephantoideaPBDB
Diet
grazer, browserPBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 11.63 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 1599 occurrencesMiocene — about 96 of 1599 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 287 of 1599 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 1191 of 1599 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 1 occurrence22–21 Mya — about 1 occurrence21–20 Mya — about 1 occurrence20–20 Mya — about 1 occurrence20–19 Mya — about 1 occurrence19–18 Mya — about 1 occurrence18–17 Mya — about 1 occurrence17–16 Mya — about 1 occurrence16–16 Mya — about 1 occurrence16–15 Mya — about 1 occurrence15–14 Mya — about 1 occurrence14–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 6 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 7 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 7 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 6 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 6 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 9 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 16 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 16 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 44 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 53 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 99 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 185 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 282 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 219 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 623 occurrences11.63 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

1,599 occurrences of Elephantidae on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

1,599 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

144 formations

Shungura — 5.08°N, 36.03°EShungura — 5.03°N, 36.02°EShungura — 5.15°N, 36.04°EShungura — 5.09°N, 36.06°EKoobi Fora — 3.87°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.59°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 3.90°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 3.98°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 4.07°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 4.31°N, 36.28°EKoobi Fora — 4.23°N, 36.43°EKoobi Fora — 3.75°N, 36.36°EKoobi Fora — 3.70°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 4.28°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 3.94°N, 36.25°EKoobi Fora — 4.28°N, 36.38°EKoobi Fora — 4.06°N, 36.33°EKoobi Fora — 3.75°N, 36.34°ENachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°ENachukui — 3.08°N, 35.83°ENachukui — 3.87°N, 35.72°ENachukui — 3.93°N, 35.76°ENachukui — 4.15°N, 35.74°ENachukui — 4.05°N, 35.73°ENachukui — 4.53°N, 35.92°ENachukui — 4.10°N, 35.77°ENachukui — 4.21°N, 35.78°EHadar — 11.13°N, 40.59°EVogel River Series — 3.23°S, 35.23°EVogel River Series — 3.26°S, 35.18°EVogel River Series — 3.01°S, 35.20°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°ENkondo — 1.50°N, 31.00°ESagantole — 10.62°N, 40.58°ESagantole — 10.63°N, 40.54°ESagantole — 10.47°N, 40.50°ESagantole — 10.50°N, 40.58°ESagantole — 10.45°N, 40.45°EAdu-Asa — 10.32°N, 40.25°EAdu-Asa — 10.37°N, 40.23°EAdu-Asa — 10.43°N, 40.42°EWalanae — 4.27°S, 120.00°EWalanae — 4.39°S, 120.00°EWalanae — 4.39°S, 120.05°EWalanae — 4.18°S, 120.02°EOlduvai — 2.96°S, 35.29°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 34.32°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°EChiwondo — 10.17°S, 34.00°EChiwondo — 9.83°S, 34.83°EChiwondo — 10.33°S, 34.17°EChiwondo — 10.00°S, 33.92°EChiwondo — 9.92°S, 34.92°EChiwondo — 10.05°S, 33.96°EWembere-Manonga — 3.86°S, 33.71°EWembere-Manonga — 4.02°S, 33.83°EWembere-Manonga — 3.09°S, 33.73°EOlorgesailie — 1.57°S, 36.44°EVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°ENawata and Nachukui — 2.88°N, 36.07°ENawata and Nachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EHumbu — 2.33°S, 35.97°ETatrot — 30.73°N, 76.78°EWehaietu — 10.90°N, 40.48°EWehaietu — 10.57°N, 40.58°EWehaietu — 10.63°N, 40.54°EWehaietu — 10.72°N, 40.50°EWehaietu — 10.32°N, 40.55°ELukeino — 0.50°N, 35.67°EWarwire — 1.50°N, 31.00°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.46°N, 1.73°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.93°N, 1.30°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.88°N, 1.44°ENagrota — 32.70°N, 74.85°E"unnamed sandstone" — 33.90°N, 117.00°WKanapoi — 2.37°N, 36.08°EKanapoi — 2.32°N, 36.07°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Elephantidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 120 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 936 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Elephantidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Elephantidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,590 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 1,370 sites for Elephantidae, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

635 references

Each of the 1,599 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 623 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Elephantidae

Credit
Muhammad Mahdi Karim Facebook The making of this document was supported by Wikimedia CH . ( Submit your project! ) Fo…
Licence
GFDL 1.2
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Elephantidae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itElephantoidea through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1821