Loxodonta cookei

Loxodonta cookei Temporal range: Late Miocene - Early Pliocene
Reconstruction of Loxodonta cookei
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Proboscidea
Family:	Elephantidae
Genus:	Loxodonta
Species:	†L. cookei
Binomial name
†Loxodonta cookei Sanders, 2007

Loxodonta cookei is an extinct species of African elephant. The specific epithet is dedicated to H. Basil S. Cooke, a paleontologist who specialized in extinct African mammals. Its fossils have been found in Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa. Most of the fossils found from this species were teeth. ^[1]

Palaeobiology

Palaeoecology

L. cookei exhibits noticeably more hypsodont dentition than earlier elephantids, which likely reflects an increased prevalence of abrasive dust in the environment relative to previous African palaeoenvironments. ^[2]

References

1. Sanders, W. (2007). "Taxonomic review of fossil Proboscidea (Mammalia) from Langebaanweg, South Africa" (PDF). Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa. 62 (1) (Online ed.): 1–16. doi:10.1080/00359190709519192. S2CID   27499106.
2. Saarinen, Juha; Lister, Adrian M. (14 August 2023). "Fluctuating climate and dietary innovation drove ratcheted evolution of proboscidean dental traits". Nature Ecology & Evolution . 7 (9): 1490–1502. doi:10.1038/s41559-023-02151-4. ISSN   2397-334X. PMC   10482678 . PMID   37580434 . Retrieved 20 December 2025– via Nature.