Elephas

Elephas is a genus of elephants and one of two surviving genera in the family Elephantidae, with only a single living species, the Asian elephant. Several extinct species have been identified as belonging to the genus, extending back to the Pliocene or possibly the late Miocene.

Elephas

Léodras · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
ElephantiniPBDB
Diet
grazer, browserPBDB, for Elephantidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Elephantidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 5.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 5.333 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 126 occurrencesMiocene — about 7 of 126 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 35 of 126 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 83 of 126 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 5 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 6 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 13 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 18 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 20 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 19 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 39 occurrences5.333 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

126 occurrences of Elephas 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

126 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

23 formations

Olorgesailie — 1.57°S, 36.44°EHadar — 11.14°N, 40.58°ENagrota — 32.70°N, 74.85°ETatrot — 30.73°N, 76.78°EKoobi Fora — 3.59°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 3.90°N, 36.24°EUSNO — 5.33°N, 36.17°EPinjor — 30.73°N, 76.92°EPinjor — 30.89°N, 76.71°EKanapoi — 2.37°N, 36.08°EKanapoi — 2.32°N, 36.07°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EIrrawaddy — 21.83°N, 94.72°EIrrawaddy — 21.67°N, 94.82°ECholan — 8.75°N, 78.12°EWembere-Manonga — 3.86°S, 33.71°ESagantole — 10.62°N, 40.58°EKaiso Village — 1.50°N, 31.00°ENachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EKapthurin — 0.50°N, 36.00°EChiwondo — 10.17°S, 34.00°ENawata or Nachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°ELishi — 34.17°N, 109.25°ETanrung — 4.27°S, 120.09°EVillamagna. — 43.49°N, 10.73°EZhaotong — 27.32°N, 103.72°EPinjor — 32.99°N, 73.67°E

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The named rock units Elephas has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 82 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Elephas and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Elephas and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

946 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 111 sites for Elephas, and this reads all 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

72 references

Each of the 126 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. 60 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 content3

Picture of Elephas

Credit
Léodras
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Elephas maximus · UFZ:2694

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was 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

Everything alive alongside itElephantini through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758