ELEPHANTS, EVOLUTION OF; ALSO MASTODON, MAMMOTH, ETC.
The first step in the evolution of the elephant is recorded in the fossil remains of the Mœritherium, which
have been found in the Eocene and early Oligocene beds of the Fayûm,
Egypt, and have quite recently been reported from the Oligocene of
India.* The remains of this tapir-like animal clearly show an early
stage of the development of the trunk, in the unmistakable indication
of a prehensile upper lip, and also the beginnings of the tusks denoted
by the sharply projecting incisors of the upper jaw. The Mœritherium was
only about three and a half feet high, and the original type is still
found in the Lower Oligocene, along with the Palseomastodons,
representing the gradual evolution of certain Mceritheria into a type
more closely resembling the elephant. The Oligocene strata have not as
yet offered any remains illustrating the further development of the
elephant, except in India, where fragmentary remains of a more
advanced stage, Hemimastodon, have lately been found, t Its
earliest migration into Europe must have been in the early Miocene age,
and in the Middle Miocene the elephant had already penetrated into
North America.
*Dr.
W. D. Matthew, Curator of the American Museum of Natural History, New
York City, kindly offered many suggestions and added materially to this
chapter.
fGuy
E. Pilgrim, 1912, "The Vertebrate Fauna of the Gaj Series in the Bugti
Hills and the Punjab," Palœontologia Indica, New Series, Vol. IV,
Memoir No 2, pp. 1-83, plates i-xxx.
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