Taurotragus

Taurotragus is a genus of giant antelopes of the African savanna placed under the subfamily Bovinae and family Bovidae., commonly known as elands or impofu. It contains two species: the common eland T. oryx and the giant eland T. derbianus.

Taurotragus

Lunkwill at English Wikipedia · Public Domain · 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
elandPBDB
Sits inside
TragelaphiniPBDB
Diet
grazer, browserPBDB, for Bovidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Bovidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 3.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 72 occurrencesMiocene — about 1 of 72 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 3 of 72 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 52 of 72 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.1–2.4 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 13 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 17 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 35 occurrences3.6 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

72 occurrences of Taurotragus 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

72 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

11 formations

Olorgesailie — 1.57°S, 36.43°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EHumbu — 2.33°S, 35.97°EOlduvai — 2.97°S, 35.32°EMbuga Clays — 3.88°S, 33.72°EVarswater & Bredasdorp — 32.98°S, 18.15°ESterkfontein — 26.02°S, 27.73°ERietputs — 28.53°S, 24.47°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°EVarswater — 33.67°S, 18.43°E

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The named rock units Taurotragus 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.

Taurotragus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Taurotragus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

534 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 71 sites for Taurotragus, 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

54 references

Each of the 72 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. 42 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 Taurotragus

Credit
Lunkwill at English Wikipedia
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itTragelaphini through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Wagner 1855