Elephas ekorensis

Elephas ekorensis Temporal range: Early Pliocene
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Proboscidea
Family:	Elephantidae
Genus:	Elephas
Species:	†E. ekorensis
Binomial name
†Elephas ekorensis Maglio, 1970

Elephas ekorensis is an extinct species of elephant. Fossils have been found in East Africa. They date as far back as the Early Pliocene age, between 5 and 4.2 million years ago. ^[1] It is the earliest species placed in the genus Elephas . ^{[2] [3] [4]} It has been suggested to have been a grazer or mixed feeder (both browsing and grazing). ^[5] Its placement in the genus of Elephas has been questioned, as the teeth are similar to those of the contemporaneous Loxodonta adaurora. A number of specimens assigned to it likely actually belong to other species. ^[5]

References

1. Sanders, William J.; Haile-Selassie, Yohannes (June 2012). "A New Assemblage of Mid-Pliocene Proboscideans from the Woranso-Mille Area, Afar Region, Ethiopia: Taxonomic, Evolutionary, and Paleoecological Considerations" . Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 19 (2): 105–128. doi:10.1007/s10914-011-9181-y. ISSN   1064-7554.
2. Sukumar, Raman (2003). The Living Elephants: Evolutionary Ecology, Behaviour, and Conservation . Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780190283087.
3. Genoways, H.H. (2013). Current Mammalogy, Volume 1. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 131. ISBN   9781475799095.
4. Sanders, William & Haile-Selassie, Yohannes. (2011). A New Assemblage of Mid-Pliocene Proboscideans from the Woranso-Mille Area, Afar Region, Ethiopia: Taxonomic, Evolutionary, and Paleoecological Considerations. Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 19. 10.1007/s10914-011-9181-y.
5. Sanders, William J. (March 2020). "Proboscidea from Kanapoi, Kenya" . Journal of Human Evolution. 140: 102547. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.10.013.