Sulawesi Dwarf Elephant

Asian Elephant (living relative to the
Sulawesi Dwarf Elephants)

Did you know that back in the Pleistocene there were several species of Elephant that stood only a few feet tall? These animals were all found on islands around the world, and grew smaller in size due to insular dwarfism. Some were found on Cyrpus, Crete, and other Mediterranean isles, some way over in California's Channel Islands, and some on the many islands of Indonesia.

The Sulawesi Dwarf Elephant is a member of that last group. Fossils of this creature have been found on Java and Indonesia, and they date back to around 2 million years ago. One interesting distinction about the species is that they had functional lower tusks, though there is still much to be learned about them and about the species in general.

What we do know is that these Elephants truly were small! They stood only about 5ft at the shoulders, which is a massive difference from the 9ft height of the living Asian Elephants (the two species belong in the same genus).

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Status : Extnict for 1.5 million years
Location : Madagascar
Size : Height up to 5ft (1.5m)

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Mammalia -- Order : Proboscidea
Family : Elephantidae -- Genus : Elephas -- Species : †E. celebensis

Image : PLOS

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Steppe Mammoth

Mammuthus trogontherii

The Steppe Mammoth is an interesting creature because it actually predates the Woolly Mammoth that we known so well. These monstrous Proboscideans lived between 600,000 and 370,000 years ago, roaming about the steppes of Europe and Asia.

Steppe Mammoths were one of the largest members of their entire order, living or extinct. At the shoulder they stood around 13ft, which would make them just slightly taller than an average male African Elephant today. Even larger specimens have been found, with some reaching as high as 15ft, and sporting tusks around 10ft long.

Unlike the Woolly Mammoths, whose preserved carcasses have actually been found, and whose skeletons and tusks turn up regularly, the Steppe Mammoth is a more rare find. Most of the fossils found have been teeth, and only a handful of near-complete skeletons have been unearthed. A very rare skull was actually just located in France back in 2008.

Steppe Mammoths most likely followed the Southern Mammoths in terms of evolutionary history, and may have been directly followed by the Woolly Mammoths once the ice age completely set in.

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Status : Extinct for about 370,000 years
Location : Europe and Asia
Size : Height up to 13ft (4m)

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Mammalia -- Order : Proboscidea
Family : Elephantidae -- Genus : Mammuthus -- Species : M. trogontherii

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