Palaeoloxodon

Palaeoloxodon is an extinct genus of elephant. It originated in Africa during the Early Pleistocene, and expanded into Eurasia at the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene. Palaeoloxodon contains the largest known species of elephants, with mature bulls 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 and the South Asian Palaeoloxodon namadicus. P. namadicus has been suggested to be the largest known land mammal by some authors based on extrapolation from fragmentary remains, though these estimates are highly speculative. In contrast, the genus also contains many species of dwarf elephants on islands in the Mediterranean, some like Palaeoloxodon falconeri less than 1 m in shoulder height as fully grown adults, making them the smallest elephants known. The genus has a long and complex taxonomic history, and at various times, it has been considered to belong to Loxodonta or Elephas, but today is usually considered a valid and separate genus in its own right.

Palaeoloxodon

Diagram Lajard · CC0 · 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
Sits inside
ElephantidaePBDB
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 3.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 389 occurrencesPliocene — about 39 of 389 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 349 of 389 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 1 of 389 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 5 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 5 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 5 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 5 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 15 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 42 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 42 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 42 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 35 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 14 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 14 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 14 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 14 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 14 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 23 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 23 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 23 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 39 occurrences3.6 Mya11.7 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

389 occurrences of Palaeoloxodon on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

389 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

32 formations

Shungura — 5.06°N, 36.02°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 — 3.90°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 — 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°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 — 4.10°N, 35.77°ENachukui — 4.21°N, 35.78°EOlduvai — 2.96°S, 35.29°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 34.32°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°EHumbu — 2.33°S, 35.97°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°EHadar — 11.13°N, 40.59°EMatabaietu — 10.30°N, 40.25°EMatabaietu — 10.63°N, 40.54°EMatabaietu — 10.55°N, 40.58°ESagantole — 10.63°N, 40.54°ESagantole — 10.47°N, 40.50°ESagantole — 10.50°N, 40.58°EOlorgesailie — 1.57°S, 36.43°EChiwondo — 10.17°S, 34.00°EChiwondo — 9.83°S, 34.83°EChiwondo — 10.33°S, 34.17°EChiwondo — 10.00°S, 33.92°EChemoigut — 0.65°N, 36.20°EUnterer Travertin — 50.95°N, 11.38°EUnterer Travertin — 50.98°N, 11.31°E2 — 11.06°N, 42.28°ENyabusosi — 1.00°N, 30.50°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.46°N, 1.73°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.88°N, 1.44°ELower Narmada Deposit — 22.90°N, 77.83°EBabladanga — 23.50°N, 87.00°ENubia — 23.00°N, 25.50°EKaiso Village — 1.50°N, 31.00°EChemeron — 0.67°N, 35.83°E1 — 11.06°N, 42.28°EDanakil — 14.84°N, 39.87°EMursi — 5.44°N, 35.96°E

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The named rock units Palaeoloxodon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 8 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 140 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Palaeoloxodon and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Palaeoloxodon and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

517 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 375 sites for Palaeoloxodon, 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

145 references

Each of the 389 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. 133 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 content2

Picture of Palaeoloxodon

Credit
Diagram Lajard
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Palaeoloxodon antiquus · NHMUK:PAL:PV M 11156ak

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

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

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Matsumoto 1924)