A pair of archaeological studies happen to have uncovered elephant ancestors coming from very different points in time and measuring in at opposite ends of the size chart.
As reported in National Geographic, a research team has found evidence of one seriously large critter who roamed the earth a relatively recent 200,000 years ago; thousands of miles away, a second team found the earliest known elephant ancestor from about 60 million years ago. It was less than two feet, end-to-end.
The larger example was discovered in an Indonesian site. It includes a rare complete skeleton of an animal understood to be a very close relative to the modern Asian elephant, but which would have stood several feet higher.
And from a dig in Morocco, researchers have uncovered evidence indicating that the earliest-known ancestor of the elephant appeared at least 60 million years ago. With this find, which was limited to a portion of the creature’s skull, proto-pachyderms join early rodents and primates to expand the list of mammals who, at that point in geologic time, were rapidly seeking and exploiting an array of niches left in the wake of the extinction of the dinosaur.
The ancestral creature, Eritherium azzouzorum, was about the size of a large rabbit.
While it’s left only to speculation as to whether this rabbit-sized creature might of been capable of nibbling yer bum, it is described as lacking fully formed tusks while having distinctly, extended lower front teeth, perhaps suggesting the shape of evolutionary things to come.
