Elephant

Added byIN Others  Save
 We try our best to keep the ads from getting in your way. If you'd like to show your support, you can use Patreon or Buy Me a Coffee.
added by

Either of two species of the family Elephantidae, characterized by their large size, huge head, columnar legs, and large ears. The Indian elephant was regularly employed for show and war as early as the Bronze Age in China. Wild herds survived in the Near East into the 1st millennium BC, when they were hunted to extinction for their ivory, and in North Africa, where they supplied Hannibal with his war elephants. Forms now extinct, especially the mammoth, were an important source of food in the Palaeolithic period, and are portrayed in cave art. Living elephants are now confined to Africa. The African elephant formerly occupied a far larger area, as is attested by skeletal evidence and cave paintings in North Africa. The reduction in its range is probably due to the combined effects of climatic change, human hunting, and cattle-grazing. The straight-tusked elephant, Elephas antiquus, apparently adapted to the open deciduous woodlands of interglacials in Europe, but became extinct at the end of the Ipswichian interglacial. Dwarf forms of the straight-tusked elephant evolved on islands of the Mediterranean.

0

added by

A group of the order Proboscidea. The living elephants are confined to Africa — Loxondonta africanus (Elephas africanus) — and India — Elephas maximus(indicus). The African elephant is adapted to a savanna environment and formerly occupied a far larger area, as is attested by skeletal evidence and cave paintings in North Africa. The reduction in its range is probably due to the combined effects of climatic change, human hunting and cattle-grazing. Other species of elephant are now known to have existed. The straight-tusked elephant, Elephas (Palae-oloxodori) antiquus, apparently adapted to the open deciduous woodlands of interglacials in Europe, became extinct at the end of the Ipswichian interglacial. Related forms existed in Asia, North Africa and East Africa. Dwarf forms of the straight-tusked elephant evolved on islands of the Mediterranean. Mammoths seem to have been adapted to more open conditions, and although present during interglacials were particularly common during colder periods.

The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied

0