A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus Mammuthus. They lived from the late Miocene epoch into the Holocene about 4,000 years ago, and various species existed in Africa, Europe, Asia, and North America. Mammoths are distinguished from living elephants by their spirally twisted tusks and in at least some later species, the development of numerous adaptions to living in cold environments, including a thick layer of fur.
Proboscidea is a taxonomic order of afrotherian mammals containing one living family (Elephantidae) and several extinct families. First described by J. Illiger in 1811, it encompasses the elephants and their close relatives. Three species of elephant are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant.
Elephantidae is a family of large, herbivorous proboscidean mammals collectively called elephants and mammoths. These are large terrestrial mammals with a snout modified into a trunk and teeth modified into tusks. Most genera and species in the family are extinct. Only two genera, Loxodonta and Elephas, are living.
Palaeoloxodon is an extinct genus of elephant. The genus originated in Africa during the Early Pleistocene, and expanded into Eurasia at the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene. The genus contains some of the largest known species of elephants, over 4 metres (13 ft) tall at the shoulders, 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 that evolved via insular dwarfism on islands in the Mediterranean, some only 1 metre (3.3 ft) in height, 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.
Stegodon is an extinct genus of proboscidean, related to elephants. It was originally assigned to the family Elephantidae along with modern elephants but is now placed in the extinct family Stegodontidae. Like elephants, Stegodon had teeth with plate-like lophs that are different from those of more primitive proboscideans like gomphotheres and mammutids. The oldest fossils of the genus are found in Late Miocene strata in Asia, likely originating from the more archaic Stegolophodon, subsequently migrating into Africa. While the genus became extinct in Africa during the Pliocene, Stegodon remained widespread in South, Southeast and East Asia until the end of the Pleistocene.
Gomphotheres are an extinct group of proboscideans related to modern elephants. They were widespread across Afro-Eurasia and North America during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs and dispersed into South America during the Pleistocene as part of the Great American Interchange. Gomphotheres are a paraphyletic group that is ancestral to Elephantidae, which contains modern elephants, as well as Stegodontidae. While most famous forms such as Gomphotherium had long lower jaws with tusks, which is the ancestral condition for the group, some later members developed shortened (brevirostrine) lower jaws with either vestigial or no lower tusks, looking very similar to modern elephants, an example of parallel evolution, which outlasted the long-jawed gomphotheres. By the end of the Early Pleistocene, gomphotheres became extinct in Afro-Eurasia, with the last two genera, Cuvieronius ranging from southern North America to western South America, and Notiomastodon having a wide range over most of South America until the end of the Pleistocene around 12,000 years ago, when they became extinct following the arrival of humans.
Dwarf elephants are prehistoric members of the order Proboscidea which, through the process of allopatric speciation on islands, evolved much smaller body sizes in comparison with their immediate ancestors. Dwarf elephants are an example of insular dwarfism, the phenomenon whereby large terrestrial vertebrates that colonize islands evolve dwarf forms, a phenomenon attributed to adaptation to resource-poor environments and lack of predation and competition.
Palaeoloxodon recki, often known by the synonym Elephas recki is an extinct species of elephant native to Africa and West Asia from the Pliocene or Early Pleistocene to the Middle Pleistocene. During most of its existence, the species represented the dominant elephant species in East Africa. The species is divided into five roughly chronologically successive subspecies. While the type and latest subspecies P. recki recki as well as the preceding P. recki ileretensis are widely accepted to be closely related to Eurasian Palaeoloxodon, the relationships of the other, chronologically earlier subspecies to P. recki recki and P. recki ileretensis are uncertain, with it being suggested they are unrelated and should be elevated to separate species.
The straight-tusked elephant is an extinct species of elephant that inhabited Europe and Western Asia during the Middle and Late Pleistocene. It was larger than any living elephant, with adult males suggested to reach 3.81–4.2 metres (12.5–13.8 ft) in shoulder height, and 11.3–15 tonnes in weight. Like modern elephants, the straight-tusked elephant lived in herds, flourishing during interglacial periods, when its range would extend as far north as Great Britain. Skeletons found in association with stone tools and wooden spears suggest they were scavenged and hunted by early humans, including Neanderthals. It is the ancestral species of most dwarf elephants that inhabited islands in the Mediterranean.
Gomphotherium is an extinct genus of gomphothere proboscidean from the Neogene of Eurasia, Africa and North America. The genus is probably paraphyletic.
Anancus is an extinct genus of "tetralophodont gomphothere" native to Afro-Eurasia, that lived from the Tortonian stage of the late Miocene until its extinction during the Early Pleistocene, roughly from 8.5–2 million years ago.
Mammuthus meridionalis, sometimes called the southern mammoth, is an extinct species of mammoth native to Eurasia, including Europe, during the Early Pleistocene, living from around 2.5 million years ago to 800,000 years ago.
Palaeoloxodon namadicus is an extinct species of prehistoric elephant known from the early Middle to Late Pleistocene of the Indian subcontinent, and possibly also elsewhere in Asia. The species grew larger than any living elephant, and some authors have suggested it to have been the largest known land mammal based on extrapolation from fragmentary remains, though these estimates are speculative.
Palaeoloxodon naumanni, occasionally called Naumann's elephant, is an extinct species belonging to the genus Palaeoloxodon found in the Japanese archipelago during the Middle to Late Pleistocene around 330,000 to 24,000 years ago. It is named after Heinrich Edmund Naumann who discovered the first fossils at Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan. Fossils attributed to P. naumanni are also known from China and Korea, though the status of these specimens is unresolved, and some authors regard them as belonging to separate species.
Elephas hysudrindicus, commonly known also as the Blora elephant in Indonesia, is a species of extinct elephant from the Pleistocene of Java. It is anatomically distinct from the Asian elephant, the last remaining species of elephant under the genus Elephas. The species existed from around the end of the Early Pleistocene until the end of the Middle Pleistocene, when it was replaced by the modern Asian elephant, coexisting alongside fellow proboscidean Stegodon trigonocephalus, as well archaic humans belonging to the species Homo erectus.
Elephas ekorensis is an extinct species of elephant. Fossils have been found in East Africa dating as far back as the Early Pliocene age, between 5 and 4.2 million years ago. It is the earliest species placed in the genus Elephas. It has been suggested to have been a grazer or mixed feeder. 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.
Palaeoloxodonjolensis is an extinct species of elephant. The type specimen is located in the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. It is either considered the descendant species or last evolutionary stage of Palaeoloxodon recki in Africa. It is only known from isolated molars. The species is known from remains found across Africa, which are largely poorly dated to approximately the late Middle Pleistocene to Late Pleistocene, with some authors suggesting an exclusively late Middle Pleistocene age, as the only well dated specimens of the species are over 130,000 years old. Like P. recki, they are thought to have been dedicated grazers, being distinguished from earlier P. recki by having increased hypsodonty and enamel folding, with the plates being thicker along the long axis of the tooth. Following the extinction of the species, it was largely replaced by the modern African bush elephant.
Elephas planifrons is an extinct species of elephant, known from the Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene of the Indian subcontinent.
Stegoloxodon is an extinct genus of dwarf elephant known from the Early Pleistocene of Indonesia. It contains two species, S. indonesicus from Java, and S. celebensis from Sulawesi. Its relationship with other elephants is uncertain.
Phanagoroloxodon is an extinct genus of elephant. It is known from one species Phanagoroloxodon mammontoides described from a partial skull found on the banks of the Psekups river in the northwestern Caucasus of Russia, of probable Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene age. Phanagoroloxodon has been suggested to share a close common ancestry with Elephas, as well as mammoths, combining characteristics of both genera. Like the Asian elephant, the top of the skull has a groove running along the midline, while the tusks are suggested to be twisted, similar to those of mammoths. A 2020 PhD thesis by Steven Zhang suggested that Elephas recki brumpti from the Pliocene of East Africa should be subsumed into the species Elephas planifrons, known from the Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene of the Indian subcontinent, and that this species should be placed as a second species of Phanagoroloxodon. However, these suggestions were rejected by Sanders (2023).
