Dwarf elephants are prehistoric members of the order Proboscidea which, through the process of allopatric speciation on islands, evolved much smaller body sizes (around 1–2.3 metres (3 ft 3 in – 7 ft 7 in) shoulder height) in comparison with their immediate ancestors. Dwarf elephants are an example of insular dwarfism, the phenomenon whereby large terrestrial vertebrates (usually mammals) that colonize islands evolve dwarf forms, a phenomenon attributed to adaptation to resource-poor environments and lack of predation and competition.
Fossil remains of dwarf elephants have been found on the Mediterranean islands of Cyprus, Malta, Crete, Sicily, Sardinia, the Cyclades Islands and the Dodecanese Islands, which are mostly members of the genus Palaeoloxodon, descending from the large 4 metres (13 ft) tall mainland European species Palaeoloxodon antiquus, though two species represent dwarf mammoths. Dwarf species of elephants and Stegodon have been found on the islands of Indonesia and the Philippines. The Channel Islands of California once supported a dwarf species descended from Columbian mammoths,[1] while the woolly mammoths that existed on Wrangel Island north of Siberia were once considered dwarfs, but are not anymore.
^"The Pygmy Mammoth (U.S. National Park Service)".
Dwarfelephants are prehistoric members of the order Proboscidea which, through the process of allopatric speciation on islands, evolved much smaller...
Palaeoloxodon cypriotes is an extinct species of dwarfelephant that inhabited the island of Cyprus during the Late Pleistocene. The species became extinct...
of dwarfelephant from the Middle Pleistocene (around 500–200,000 years ago) of Sicily and Malta. It is amongst the smallest of all dwarfelephants at...
contrast, the genus also contains many species of dwarfelephants that evolved via insular dwarfism on islands in the Mediterranean, some only 1 metre...
insular dwarfism, some dramatically reducing in body size, such as the 1 metre (3.3 ft) tall dwarfelephant species Palaeoloxodon falconeri. Elephants are...
Stegoloxodon is an extinct genus of dwarfelephant known from the Early Pleistocene of Indonesia. It contains two species, S. indonesicus from Java, and...
analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences. In July 2013, a dwarf Sri Lankan elephant was sighted in Udawalawe National Park. It was over 1.5 m (5 ft)...
Palaeoloxodon mnaidriensis is an extinct species of dwarfelephant belonging to the genus Palaeoloxodon, native to the Siculo-Maltese archipelago during...
evolved from the straight-tusked elephant. Other descendants of the straight-tusked elephant existed in Cyprus. Dwarfelephants of uncertain descent lived in...
The Borneo elephant, also called the Bornean elephant or the Borneo pygmy elephant, is a subspecies of Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) that inhabits northeastern...
Zakouma elephant slaughter DwarfelephantElephant cognition Knysna elephants Largest organisms List of individual elephants Pygmy elephant The populations...
Elephas beyeri is an extinct species of dwarfelephant known from the Middle Pleistocene. It was named after the anthropologist H. Otley Beyer. The type...
Pleistocene, alongside the dwarf hippopotamus Hippopotamus creutzburgi and the giant rat Kritimys. Dwarfelephant Mammuthus lamarmorai a dwarf mammoth species known...
extinct within the last 50,000 years. Ferretti, M.P. (May 2008). "The dwarfelephant Palaeoloxodon mnaidriensis from Puntali Cave, Carini (Sicily; late Middle...
Kallana (Malayalam: കല്ലാന) is a suspected species of dwarfelephants allegedly found in South India. Kaani tribals dwelling in the rainforests of the...
the common names Chinese taro, Chinese ape, Buddha's hand, and hooded dwarfelephant ear. It is kept as an ornamental plant. The native range of the species...
Channel Islands mammoth (Mammuthus exilis) is an extinct species of dwarfelephant native to the northern Channel Islands off the coast of California....
competition, as the only other large herbivore on the island was the dwarfelephant Palaeoloxodon mnaidriensis. The majority of findings of this species...
Alocasia gageana, the dwarf upright elephant ear or dwarf taro, is a species of flowering plant in the family Araceae, native to the Kachin Hills of Myanmar...
assigned to this genus, Elephas recki, the straight-tusked elephant E. antiquus and the dwarfelephants E. falconeri and E. cypriotes are now placed in the separate...
(November 2017). "A new elephant fossil from the late Pleistocene of Alghero: The puzzling question of Sardinian dwarfelephants". Comptes Rendus Palevol...
Isotope Stage 4 (~71,000 years ago). Contemporaneous species include the dwarfelephant Palaeoloxodon mnaidriensis, the aurochs, red deer, steppe bison, fallow...
making insular dwarfism the most common form of phyletic dwarfism. Examples of this are the Channel Island fox, extinct dwarfelephants of Crete, and Brookesia...
Upper Paleolithic, included dwarfelephants. Paleontologist Othenio Abel suggested that the presence of dwarfelephants in Sicily may be the origin of...
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