Elephantinae

Elephantidae is a family of large, herbivorous proboscidean mammals which includes the living elephants, as well as a number of extinct genera like Mammuthus (mammoths) and Palaeoloxodon. They 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. Some extinct members are among the largest known terrestrial mammals ever.

Elephantinae

Yathin S Krishnappa · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
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 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 1000 occurrencesMiocene — about 44 of 1000 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 195 of 1000 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 738 of 1000 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 3 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 3 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 4 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 8 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 8 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 30 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 36 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 67 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 99 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 124 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 144 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 458 occurrences5.333 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

1,000 occurrences of Elephantinae 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

1,000 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

108 formations

Vogel River Series — 3.23°S, 35.23°EVogel River Series — 3.26°S, 35.18°EVogel River Series — 3.01°S, 35.20°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°EHadar — 11.14°N, 40.58°EKoobi Fora — 3.59°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 3.90°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 4.07°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.70°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 4.18°N, 36.42°EKoobi Fora — 3.75°N, 36.36°EKoobi Fora — 3.75°N, 36.34°ESagantole — 10.62°N, 40.58°ESagantole — 10.63°N, 40.54°ESagantole — 10.47°N, 40.50°ESagantole — 10.48°N, 40.60°ESagantole — 10.45°N, 40.45°ENkondo — 1.50°N, 31.00°EWembere-Manonga — 3.86°S, 33.71°EWembere-Manonga — 4.02°S, 33.83°EWembere-Manonga — 3.09°S, 33.73°EChiwondo — 10.17°S, 34.00°EChiwondo — 9.83°S, 34.83°EChiwondo — 10.33°S, 34.17°EChiwondo — 10.00°S, 33.92°EChiwondo — 10.05°S, 33.96°EAdu-Asa — 10.32°N, 40.25°EAdu-Asa — 10.43°N, 40.42°ENachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°ENachukui — 3.08°N, 35.83°ENachukui — 3.87°N, 35.70°ENachukui — 4.17°N, 35.74°ENachukui — 4.53°N, 35.92°EWalanae — 4.27°S, 120.00°EWalanae — 4.39°S, 120.00°EWalanae — 4.18°S, 120.02°EVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°E"unnamed sandstone" — 33.90°N, 117.00°WShungura — 5.09°N, 36.02°EShungura — 5.05°N, 36.04°EKanapoi — 2.37°N, 36.08°EKanapoi — 2.32°N, 36.07°EChemeron — 0.67°N, 35.83°EOlorgesailie — 1.57°S, 36.44°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.46°N, 1.73°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.93°N, 1.30°EOcotillo — 32.90°N, 117.10°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WBermont — 26.90°N, 82.00°WTule — 34.50°N, 101.30°WTule — 34.51°N, 101.41°WLukeino — 0.50°N, 35.67°ENagrota — 32.70°N, 74.85°ETatrot — 30.73°N, 76.78°EVillamagna — 43.58°N, 10.80°EVillamagna — 43.55°N, 10.72°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Elephantinae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 84 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 696 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Elephantinae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Elephantinae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,595 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 920 sites for Elephantinae, 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

472 references

Each of the 1,000 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. 460 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 content1

Picture of Elephantinae

Credit
Yathin S Krishnappa
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Elephantinae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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. Gray 1821