Elephants - Photos

Elephants - Photos - Introduction and History

Picture source: Tims Links

First ancient predecessors of the modern elephant lived in the Eocene period about 50 million years ago. They are called Moeritherium. They were much smaller in size and they had no trunk. Mammoths, their descendants, developed thicker skin, trunk, and long tusks. They were larger in size due to aggravating climatic conditions.

In 1997, a complete and intact body of a mammoth was found in Taimyr Paeninsula, Northern Siberia. It had been stuck in ice for millions of years. A reindeer shepherd by happenstance spotted a tusk, which was protruding from the ground. That was how it started a not too long of a trip to the city of Khatanga for scientific underground conservation.

There are only two types of elephants, which survived the history. However, current research is showing that there are living relatives of elephants-dugongs and manetees. Analyses revealed chemical and biologic kinship to elephants. Those are the Indian (Asian) elephant (Elephes Maximus) and the African elephant (Loxodonta Africana). The etymology of the term 'elephant' is Latin: 'ele' stands for 'huge', and 'phant' means 'arch'. Evidently, the name of elephants is fully attributable to the animal's size.