Four tusks and a trunk in the form of a beak: what the ancient ancestors of the elephants looked like

Modern elephants have a very outstanding appearance compared to other mammals, but their ancestors looked even more original. The most interesting thing is that some of them lived not millions of years ago, but only several thousand years ago, and most likely, ancient people were involved in their disappearance. So, we offer a look at interesting animals of past eras - the closest relatives of modern elephants belonging to the proboscis squad.

According to modern ideas about the evolution of proboscis, the common ancestor of all the living elephants was the Mercury. Mercury (also Mercury, or Moriterium) were about 1.5 meters high and lived 40-30 million years ago.

Another representative of the proboscis, who also lived in this time period, was called barium.

The next link in the evolution was phiomy, which had 2 pairs of tusks and had a very frightening appearance, as well as more pretty paleomastadons. The remains of these two species date back over 23 million years.

These two species were replaced by very unusual deinotheriums (also dinoteriums), the appearance of which also cannot be called familiar to modern people.

In parallel with the deinotheriums, homotherias lived, which had two pairs of tusks and became extinct about 3-5 million years ago.

No less interesting were the platibelodons that lived about 4-15 million years ago and the similar gnatobelodons that died out about 10 million years ago.

But stegotetrabelodon also had two pairs of tusks, which gave it a very formidable appearance. Despite this, it looks very much like modern elephants, although it has died out for a long time - about 4 million years ago.

Among the proboscis, extinct not so long ago, we can name representatives of the homfoterium family. More recently, about 15-11 thousand years ago, these relatives of elephants roamed the expanses of South America. So, judging by the found remains, the Cuvieronius looked comparable in size to modern African elephants. Scientists believe that it disappeared as a result of climate change and the hunt of the Paleo Indians.

Watch the video: Top 10 Bizarre Prehistoric Animals (May 2024).