Loxodonta

African elephants are members of the genus Loxodonta comprising two living elephant species, the African bush elephant and the smaller African forest elephant. Both are social herbivores with grey skin. However, they differ in the size and colour of their tusks as well as the shape and size of their ears and skulls.

Loxodonta

Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 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
Also called
African elephantPBDB
Sits inside
LoxodontiniPBDB
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 149 occurrencesMiocene — about 11 of 149 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 72 of 149 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 46 of 149 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 9 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 11 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 26 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 32 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 18 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 9 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 32 occurrences5.333 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

149 occurrences of Loxodonta on record, most of them in the Pliocene. 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

149 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

21 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 — 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°ENkondo — 1.50°N, 31.00°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°EShungura — 5.09°N, 36.02°EShungura — 5.05°N, 36.04°EChiwondo — 10.17°S, 34.00°EChiwondo — 9.83°S, 34.83°EChiwondo — 10.33°S, 34.17°EChiwondo — 10.00°S, 33.92°ESagantole — 10.47°N, 40.50°ESagantole — 10.48°N, 40.60°ESagantole — 10.45°N, 40.45°EWembere-Manonga — 3.87°S, 33.72°EWembere-Manonga — 4.02°S, 33.83°EKanapoi — 2.37°N, 36.08°EKanapoi — 2.32°N, 36.07°EWarwire — 1.50°N, 31.00°EChemeron — 0.67°N, 35.83°ELothagam 3 — 2.88°N, 36.07°EMbuga Clays — 3.90°S, 33.75°EBredasdorp & Varswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°ELukeino — 0.50°N, 35.67°EKapthurin — 0.50°N, 36.00°EMursi — 5.44°N, 35.96°ENubia — 16.25°N, 33.75°EMatabaietu — 10.55°N, 40.58°EVarswater — 32.97°S, 18.15°E

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The named rock units Loxodonta has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 53 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Loxodonta and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Loxodonta and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

753 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 142 sites for Loxodonta, and this reads all 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

76 references

Each of the 149 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. 64 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 Loxodonta

Credit
Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itLoxodontini through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Anonymous 1827