Perhaps no animal in the world has been as offended as the elephant. These giant herbivores are the largest inhabitants of land, but? Almost nothing. Let's start with the fact that many mistakenly attribute the mammoth ancestor to elephants. But this is fundamentally wrong. Mammoths, mastodons and elephants are completely different families. And who is part of the elephant family? Let's figure it out.

1 Erytherium (60 million years ago)

The ancient ancestors of elephants were by no means such giants. And their trunk was only in outline. The very first pro-elephant that scientists discovered was erytherium. A completely small animal weighed up to 5 kilograms. It was possible to identify him only from individual fragments of the jaw, but this was enough, because it is the teeth that serve distinctive feature proboscis

2 Phosphateria (57 million years ago)

Phosphateria is the next in line of the great-great-great of our gray giants. And it is already noticeably larger: from those fragments that have been preserved from the distant times of its existence, one can determine its height (no more than 30 cm) and weight (up to 17 kg). Scientists came to the conclusion that the animal was an omnivore.

3 Meriteria (35 million years ago)

A semi-aquatic animal that lived along the edges of reservoirs, Meriteria, which already has the beginnings of a trunk and long divided incisors, from which elephant tusks are later formed. And yes, they were larger - they weighed up to 250 kg, and reached 1.5 meters at the withers.

4 Bariteria (28 million years ago)

Up to three meters high, with a large skull and fairly developed fangs protruding from under the nose-trunk - if you met a barytherium, it would definitely scare you. What were the fangs worth, from which in the future will develop tusks protruding from both the lower and upper jaws - clearly not only for obtaining food!

5 Palaeomastadonts (28 million years ago)

Around the same time, paleomastodons lived and died out. They were distinguished by obvious elephantine features: the structure of the body, skull, and the presence of tusks, which were no longer involved in chewing. On the lower jaw they were spade-shaped; scientists suspect that animals used them to obtain food in the upper layer of the earth.

6 Deinotherium (17 million years ago)

Strictly speaking, scientists are not sure whether Deinotherium was the ancestor of the elephant. It may well be that this is just a separate branch of evolution that has not survived to this day (but early people saw it, because Deinotherium disappeared 2 million years ago). Well, they were terrible animals: with tusks curved down, a huge trunk, a massive (up to 1.2 m) skull, up to 4.5 meters high!

7 Platybelodon (15 million years ago)

Another representative of the proboscis on the way to modernity acquired formidable tusks protruding forward and a powerful lower jaw with spade teeth. Platybelodons lived, as they now say, everywhere: in America, Eurasia and Africa.

8 Gomphotherium (3.6 million years ago)

Add sharp tusks on the lower jaw to the modern Indian cutie elephant, straighten those on the upper jaw, and you get a gomphotherium. And he won't look so friendly anymore. The tusks of gomphotheriums differed from modern elephants in that they had real tooth enamel!

9 Stegodons (2.6 million years ago)

Height 4 meters, length 8 meters + 3 meters of tusks make these extinct proboscis one of the largest ancestors of elephants. The last specimens survived on the island of Flores until 12 thousand years ago in dwarf form, where the Hobbits (Florentine Man) were discovered. The species is so close to modern ones that the elephants of Bardia Park still show features of Stegodons.

10 Primelphas (2.6 million years ago)

And now, finally, we come to the closest relative of elephants - in fact, this is its ancestor, primelfas, or “the first elephant.” It was he who gave rise to the branches of elephants, mammoths and mastodons. Meanwhile, it didn’t look much like a modern elephant, since it had four tusks, but what can you do, it’s still related.

These amazing primitive mammals

These amazing primitive mammals

Remained in the shadows of history
The first mammals appeared on earth 265 million years ago, 10 million years after the first dinosaurs. However, for the first 160 million years when dinosaurs ruled, they remained in the shadows of history. About 300 million years ago, the ancient ancestors of reptile mammals lived therapsyls. They are very similar to us.

The earliest ancestor of modern mammals

was found by paleontologists in sediments 570 million years old, in southern China. One group of scientists discovered primitive sponges, another - embryos in the early stages of development, which have the same structure as all modern mammals.

The oldest mammal

Megazostrodon (1966), found in Thaba Litau, Lesotho, estimated to be 190,000,000 years old.

The oldest mammals

Ancient mammal-like animal with tusks
Large tusks were evidence of the sexual division of land animals. The oldest animal with tusks lived in Europe before the advent of dinosaurs. It was a male Diictodona, a barrel-like herbivore, had two tusks descending from the lower jaw. The age of his remains is 252-260 million years. Diictodon appeared in the late Permian period of the Paleozoic era, at least 30 million years earlier than the dinosaurs. It belonged to the group of mammal-like reptiles and was an evolutionary relative of the animals from which mammals later evolved. It reached 70-80 centimeters in length.

Why did Diictodon need tusks?

These fangs were used as weapons - perhaps in mating ritual or physical confrontations. They were not used for obtaining food, since females did not have them. They also could not dig or dig in the ground - since no signs of wear were found on the ends. It seems that the tusks became longer, wider and thicker as the animals aged, but if the animal lost them (for example, in a fight), new ones did not grow. All this suggests that the tusks were part of combat equipment.

Mastodon

Mastodons (proboscis) that lived in the Pleistocene were the size of an elephant; they lived on all continents.

Ancestor of elephants and rhinoceroses

Scientists know of six new species of large prehistoric mammals that roamed mountainous Ethiopia 27 million years ago. These include the ancient ancestor of the elephant and the rhinoceros-like animal. These are Africa's own mammals, which became extinct because they could not cope with competition from Eurasian lions, tigers, hippos, hyenas and antelopes.

Mastodon is the largest mammal of the glaciation period

Elephantine Mastodon americanus lived in North America during the Pleistocene until the end of the glaciation. The length of its body was 4.5 m, the length at the shoulders was 2-3 m. This animal became extinct due to climate warming. It belonged to the Mammutidae family, which originated in North Africa and spread to Eurasia and North America 15 million years ago. It got its name from its “nipple tooth”. It is known that mastodons that lived in the middle of the Ice Age were smaller in size than their counterparts that lived later in the forests. Late mastodons adapted to life in coniferous forests and swamps. They used their tusks to break tree branches. The mastodon's tusks were short and straight, and its teeth were sharp. Females were smaller than males, and their tusks were also smaller and lighter. They were covered with wool with a thick undercoat (5-18 cm long). Fossil remains of mastodons have been found in the northern United States and Canada. The honor of discovering this animal belongs to Baron Cuvier.

Dark period in African history

It occurs between 24 and 32 million years ago. It was then that the prehistoric continent known as Afro-Arabia began to connect with Eurasia. After this “contact”, immigrants settled in Africa - lions, tigers, hippos, hyenas and antelopes. Before the connection occurred, Africa had evolved many of its own mammals. They died out without ever seeing Eurasia.

Cave lion

Drawings and bones cave lions scientists found in grottoes in Spain, France, England, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy, Algeria and Syria. There was a time when lions lived not only in Africa, but also in Arabian Peninsula. In Persia, North-West India and even in Turkey, Greece, the Caucasus and the lower reaches of the Don. In Ukraine, near Odessa, Tiraspol, Kiveom and even in the Urals and Perm region, traces of lions have been found.

Saber-toothed tiger - Smilidon californicus

...inhabited North America (California) and South America (Argentina) during the late Pleistocene. It had a body 1.2 m long and a short tail, like manul cats. A pair of long fangs of the upper jaw helped to cope with prey. His shoulders and neck were muscular. Attacked saber tooth tigers on slow-moving prey, since they needed time to sink their huge teeth into the victim. This is the hypothesis.

Fangs 40 cm

U saber-toothed tigers - Smilodon fatalis there were terrible 40-centimeter fangs.

Scull mahairoda- this is also the name of saber-toothed tigers, which lived for about two million years. Was sold in Los Angeles for 200 thousand dollars.

Ancient elephants caught fish

Forty kilometers from Munich, fragments of the skeleton of a little-studied subspecies of elephants that lived on Earth 15 million years ago were found. His tusks were round in shape, with which he could dig up plants and even catch fish.

Ancient elephant

Was a terrible animal. A fossilized tusk, teeth and bones of a prehistoric ancestor of the elephant were discovered on Crete. Deinotherium gigantissimum, whose fangs went down from the chin. The animal's height reached 4.5 meters, and it was the largest representative of the doslon group. His remains are about 7 million years old. Until now, his remains have been found mainly in Central Europe. Fassoulas suggests that these creatures reached Crete from Asia Minor, crossing the Aegean Sea and visiting the islands of Rhodes and Karpathos on their way. Apparently, primitive elephants could swim long distances in search of food.

Myths turned ancient elephants into Cyclops

The remains of ancient elephants have long been found on the Greek mainland. This suggested that the ancient Greeks made these animals part of their mythology. The large hole in the center of their skull - the nasal cavity, hidden by the trunk in a living elephant - could be the source of stories about the Cyclops, the mythical giants with one eye mentioned in Homer's Odyssey and other works.

Palaeoloxodon elephants, whose height exceeded 3 meters, lived tens of thousands of years ago (during the Pleistocene era) in the cold climatic zone in the territory of modern northeastern China and Japan.

The evolution of ancient elephants can be traced by changes in molars.

Mastodon had small, plank teeth (Mastodon "breast-toothed") with three to four teeth, not too convex. Stegodon, the immediate ancestor of modern elephants, had “roof-toothed” teeth, and their size was already much larger than that of mastodon. The primitive elephants Primelephas, which included Stegodon, gave rise to the extinct later to mammoths Mammoths and two modern species, Loxodonta and Elephas.

Stegodon - dwarf elephant

Lived on the island of Flores (Indonesia).

Woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius)

...this well-known contemporary of the Ice Age (Late Pleistocene) was reliably protected from the cold by a thick layer subcutaneous fat and long hair. His hump with fat reserves was located immediately behind his majestic head. The mammoth was smaller in size than other members of the family; the height at the withers was 2.7 m. Mammoths grazed in the tundra, eating low vegetation, which they had to extract with their tusks directly from under the snow. Known from remains. Found in Siberia and Alaska, as well as from rock paintings in caves in Spain and France, where primitive artists left evidence of their encounters with mammoths.

What kind of teeth did a mammoth have?

The known species of mammoth Mammuthus planifrons and Mammuthus meridionalis had teeth with 12 and 14 teeth, respectively, and woolly mammoth Mammuthus primigenius had teeth with 27 teeth, which was associated with the peculiarity of its diet.

Herds of mammoths grazed in Siberia

DNA obtained from excavations in Siberia shows that herds of mammoths grazed in the lush tundra in the past. However, 11 thousand years ago, as a result of climate change, pastures began to disappear, which could have caused the disappearance of some animals.

Origin of Carnivores

Carnivorous animals descend from primitive insectivores of the Cretaceous period. Closely related to them are the primitive predatory Creodotita, which constitute a special extinct suborder of carnivores, numerous in the Paleocene, flourishing in the Eocene and disappearing in the Miocene. In the family Miacidae they are small animals with an elongated body, short legs, a long tail, and a rather large brain. Miacids lived in forests, in trees and were very similar to real predatory animals.

The first small representatives of the order of carnivores By appearance and lifestyle resembling civets or martens, appeared in the Upper Eocene. In the Oligocene, carnivores took a dominant position among other terrestrial carnivorous animals and reached such diversity that all the main seven families that exist to this day emerged among them.

The most ancient family of dogs is considered. Already in the Upper Eocene, primitive dogs lived in North America and Europe, in many respects more similar to civets or martens. In the Upper Tertiary, initial adaptive types began to emerge among the canids, from which the modern genera of dogs, foxes, and others developed in the Upper Miocene and Pliocene. The family of raccoons, close to them, evolved from the ancient canids. In the Miocene and Pliocene, it was widespread not only in America and Asia, as it is now, but also in Europe.

Cave bear

The bear family belongs to the same group as the canids. It arose in the Middle Miocene, and in the Pleistocene, bears appeared that belonged to the modern genus of bears (Ursus), but were distinguished by their enormous size. Cave bears that lived in the Pleistocene had a body length of about 3 m; they lived in Eurasia.

Mustelidae - the latest group

The mustelid family arose in the Oligocene. By the Miocene, the main systematic groups emerged among them, associated with various directions of adaptation to the environment and different lifestyles. Many species and genera of mustelids became extinct in the Tertiary and Quaternary periods.

Ancient wivers

The viverrid group from the order Carnivora is the most ancient of its modern relatives of the suborder Aeluroidea (or Feloidea). . In the Oligocene and even later, civets were distinguished not only by a variety of forms, but also by a much more extensive distribution than now. They were widely represented in Europe and Asia, but were absent in America. At the end of the Miocene, hyenas branched off from the civet family. Their most ancient representatives were very similar to their ancestors - civets, but later, as they switched to feeding on carrion, they acquired modern characteristic adaptive features. The most specialized cat family among carnivores appears to have emerged at the end of the Eocene, and in the Oligocene achieved great diversity and widespread distribution.

Primitive wolf Canis lupus

A relative of modern timber wolves lived in European forests of the Pleistocene era. To hunt, wolves gathered in packs. Adult wolves reached a length of 2.5 m (6 ft) and a height at the withers of 1.3 m (3 ft). They ate small mammals, sometimes large ones. Ancient ancestor marsupial was the size of a mouse. The skeleton of a creature discovered in the mountains of China, which is considered the most ancient ancestor of modern marsupial mammals– opossums, kangaroos, koalas and others. The remains are 125 million years old - 15 million years older than previous discoveries by scientists. In addition to the skeleton, clear prints of fur and fabric were found. All this made it possible to reconstruct the appearance of the ancient creature. The animal that lived with dinosaurs was small - the size of a mouse: approximately 15 centimeters long and weighing about 30 grams. The structure of the limbs indicates that the creature could climb trees.

Common ancestor

All the predatory animals of Madagascar had one common ancestor that lived on the African continent before it came to the island 18 - 24 million years ago. He crossed the water barrier separating the island from the African coast.

Condylarthus - the ancestor of the hippopotamus
The first species of hippopotamus appeared 54 million years ago, during the Tertiary period Cenozoic era. Like other ungulates, the genus of hippopotamuses, or hippopotamuses (Hippopotamidae), descended from the ancient animal condylarthus.

From the life of ancient hippos

The fossilized bones of two ancient hippopotamuses were discovered in Norfolk, England. Their age is estimated at 450 thousand years (there is reason to believe that they may be 50-200 thousand years older). Hippos weighed six to seven tons - about half their weight modern descendants. They had unusual eyes - they served as periscopes after diving under water. In the ground they lay next to the remains of a hyena, a horse, fish and several rodents. Apparently the hippos died of natural causes, and their bones were gnawed by hyenas. All these animals inhabited these places at a time when the area around Norfolk was inhabited by a mixture of familiar plants and animals and the more exotic species now more commonly found on the African savannah. During the middle Pleistocene, the average temperature was about two degrees higher than it is now.

Cave bear (Arctodus simus) lived during the Pleistocene.

The primitive rodent was the size of a bull

In the semi-desert of Venezuela, they discovered the fossilized remains of a creature that, in their opinion, was the largest rodent in history. It weighed about 700 kg, reaching a length of 2.5 meters (excluding the tail). His remains were found back in 2000 in one of the swamps of Venezuela, 400 km west of the country's capital, Caracas. The formal name of this rodent is Phoberomys pattersoni, and unofficial - Goya. According to scientists, he lived 6-8 million years ago in swampy forests, when South America was isolated from the rest of the world. The herbivore Goya had a large tail that allowed it to balance on its hind legs to watch for predators. And the rodent had plenty of enemies: 10-meter crocodiles, marsupial cats, giant birds of prey. They were the ones who ultimately ruined him.

Primitive bull - Bos primigenus

May be considered the ancestor of modern cattle. It inhabited North Africa, Europe and Asia from the Pleistocene era until the 10th century AD. The bull was first domesticated 6,000 years ago; the last bulls became extinct in the 17th century AD. The bull was about 3 m long.

Very ancient cats

Ancient ancestors existed 25 million years ago wild cats Proailurus, which formed the groups Noefelids, Pseudaelurus and Palaeofelids. From Noefelids came the saber-toothed tigers of the genus Smilodon (the most famous) and Homotherium. The predators Dinctus and Barbourifelis evolved from the Palaeofelids group. The Noefelids and Palaeofelids groups turned out to be dead ends and became extinct much earlier than 10 million years ago (the exception was predatory cats Barbourifelis, which have crossed this threshold).

The Pseudaelurus line of predators turned out to be promising; . Later, genera of small cats and clouded leopard(4-3 million years ago). Modern species formed after the milestone of 1 million years ago.

Ancient finds are represented by single bones. The most fully represented ancient lynx, which lived 4 million years ago (Lynx issidorensis). It was larger than the modern one, had shorter front legs, and longer hind legs.

Were blood relatives 2 million years ago

The jaguar and leopard appear to have had a common ancestor that lived in central Europe over 2 million years ago. Later, the relatives separated: the leopard began to live in western Europe (1 million years ago), and the jaguar at the same time moved across the Bering Isthmus to North America. Jaguars of those times ( Panthera onca augusta) were larger and longer-legged than their descendants. 750,000 years ago they began to decrease in size - adaptation to the local climatic conditions and diet. 100,000 years ago, the jaguar took on a form similar to that found today.

Saber-toothed tiger was on his own

Many people are mistaken in considering the prehistoric saber-toothed tiger to be the ancestor of modern tigers. They did not have common ancestors. Saber-toothed tigers became extinct before the ancestors of modern tigers appeared.

Saber-toothed tiger Smilodon hunted by pride

The saber-tooth tiger Smilodon was the size of an average lion, but its head was very large in proportion to its body. Its tail was short, which allows us to conclude that the saber-toothed tiger did not pursue its prey over long distances, limiting itself to pursuit over short distances. There is evidence that saber-toothed tigers were social animals and hunted in packs, similar to how a pride of lions hunts today.

The ancestors of tigers lived for 2 million years

Back to Central Asia and China and were distributed both in the west and in the east of the region from the Caspian Sea to Far East and Primorye. 1 million years ago, giant tigers were still found in China. The features of this ancient tiger have been largely preserved by the North Chinese tiger. 250,000 years ago tigers shrank in size.

Ancestors of the cheetah

...lived in North America 2½ million years ago), and along with the giant cheetah Acinonyx studeri there was also a small species Acinonyx trumani (who lived 12,000 years ago). The ancestors of the modern cheetah Acinonyx pardinensis from Europe resembled its modern descendant, only surpassing it in size.

Of the panthers, the lion was the first

Of all the Panthera panthers, the first to appear was the lion, whose remains date back to 750,000 (Western or East Africa). They were larger than modern ones and are considered gigantic. From there, 250,000 years ago, lions spread to North Africa and Europe, where he lived cave lion(Panthera spelaea) and the Tuscan lion (Tuscany lion), who lived in Northern Italy and in the Balkans. From Asia, lions moved to North America and formed a species (Panthera atrox), which spread all the way to Peru in the south. 100,000 years ago, the ancient lions became extinct, unable to adapt to changing climatic conditions.

This predator was found during the Pleistocene throughout North America (including Alaska), as well as in northern South America. It reached 3.5 m in length. It had sharp retractable claws and sharp teeth (shorter than those of other relatives). Other subspecies of the American lion are found in different parts of Africa and Western India.

Giant armadillo

The giant armadillo, which lived in the Pleistocene, had a body length of 4 m; lived in South America.

The rabbit that lived 55 million years ago

The fossilized remains of the world's oldest rabbit have been discovered in Mongolia. Gomphos elkema, lived 55 million years ago and is considered the most ancient ancestor of the modern rabbit. It is believed that it moved in much the same way as a modern rabbit, jumping with the help of elongated hind legs. Despite the obvious similarities, gomphos differed from modern rabbits in several ways. Yes, he had a very long tail, and some of the teeth looked more like the teeth of a squirrel than a rabbit.

Mesozoic badger ate dinosaurs

An animal that looks like a badger Repenomamus giganticus, was the size of a large dog, more than one meter in length. This is one of the largest mammals Mesozoic era. Its jaw is the size of a fox's jaw. Inside the skeleton of this animal, which lived about 130 million years ago in northern China, scientists have discovered a small skeleton of a baby dinosaur. Repenomamus giganticus probably ate dinosaurs. The ancient badger most likely tore its prey into pieces and swallowed large pieces. This theory is confirmed by the fact that a mammal, although it has sharp incisors, does not have molars, and its sharp teeth are intended for something completely different - for tearing into pieces and eating other animals. Although it could also feed on plants and insects.

The oldest primates

Unidentified monkey (May 1979), found at Padaung, Burma, estimated to be 40,000,000 years old; a lemur found in Madagascar, estimated to be 70,000,000 years old; a tarsier-like primate found in Indonesia, estimated to be 70,000,000 years old.

Giant sloth

The giant sloth Megatherium, which lived in the Pleistocene, had a body length of 7 m; he lived in South America, it was a terrestrial animal.

Beavers were the majority
Paleontologists have long believed that the mammals that lived alongside dinosaurs were animals similar to tiny shrews. Meanwhile, a fossil of a beaver-like mammal that lived 164 million years ago was found. The semi-aquatic mammal had a body length of about half a meter and a weight of 500 g, resembling partly a platypus, partly an otter and partly a beaver. This animal is the largest among its kind, and belongs to Jurassic period(from 200 to 145 million years ago).

Primitive whales

Fossils of primitive whales, the zeuglodonts (“jugultooths”), are found in marine sediments of Africa, Europe, New Zealand, Antarctica and North America. Some of them were giants more than 20 m long.

Which mammal was the ancestor of modern cetaceans?

Too few fossil remains have been collected on this issue. Perhaps these were primitive creodont predators, perhaps ungulates, but most likely ancient insectivores, from which cetaceans, carnivores, and ungulates branched off. Each of these concepts has its own arguments.

The ancestors of whales are ungulates
Some scientists consider the ancestors of cetaceans to be ungulates, since both have a multi-chambered stomach, multi-lobed kidneys, a two-horned uterus, a similar chemical composition of the blood and have common features in the structure of the reproductive system (placenta, structure and position of the penis, as well as the short duration of copulation), in the structure molecules of insulin and myoglobin and in terms of the precipitation reaction of blood proteins.

The ancestors of whales are predators
Other researchers are looking for the ancestors of cetaceans among creodont predators, guided by the structure of the skull and the characteristics of the dental system. Primitive cetaceans had heterodont (different in shape) teeth, sagittal and occipital crests and zygomatic processes of the skull, to some extent similar to those of creodont predators (hyenodonts).

The ancestors of whales are insectivores
Based on the analysis of fossil remains, modern paleontologists are more inclined to believe that ancient cetaceans were associated with very early placentals, that is, the oldest insectivores, and probably arose in the Late Cretaceous even before the branches of the orders of ungulates and carnivores branched off from them. 70 million years ago, the land-based ancestors of cetaceans moved into the water.

In 1959, British chemist John Kendrew discovered the structure of the muscle protein myoglobin and three years later received a Nobel Prize. Half a century has passed, but this protein continues to be the subject of active study and sometimes reveals unexpected secrets. In a recent issue of the journal Science, biologists from the UK, USA and Canada talked about the features of myoglobin in cetaceans and how much time the ancestors of some modern mammals spent under water.

Myoglobin is an oxygen-binding protein that can be found in the muscles of all mammals, it gives the red color to muscles due to the iron it contains. Aquatic animals generally have more myoglobin than terrestrial animals. The sperm whale, for example, has one of the highest concentrations of this protein in its muscles; a lot of oxygen is stored there, and therefore it can not surface for an hour and a half.

As a new study has shown, it is not only thanks to the huge amount of myoglobin that aquatic mammals can stay under water for a long time. The fact is that the surfaces of these proteins carry an excess positive charge in these animals, due to which the molecules repel each other. This ensures that myoglobin does not stick together in such huge concentrations - otherwise it would turn into non-functional protein masses.

Similar well-charged myoglobins are present in the muscles of many aquatic animals - seals, walruses, beavers, muskrats. In those that spend less time in the water, such as marsh shrews and star-nosed moles, myoglobins carry less charge than in aquatic mammals, but still more than in completely terrestrial mammals. High altitude and subterranean species are supposed to also need oxygen, but their myoglobins are not as highly charged as those of divers. Thus, positively charged myoglobin may serve as an indicator of aquatic life.
In addition, scientists were able to reconstruct the myoglobin molecules that were present in the ancestors of modern cetaceans. Knowing the structure of ancient myoglobins and their amino acid composition, one can estimate whether they were highly charged and how much time their owners could spend under water. It turned out that, for example, the pakicetus, the land-based ancestor of our whales that lived in Pakistan in the early Eocene, could afford to dive for no more than one and a half minutes. And the huge Late Eocene Basilosaurus dived for a maximum of 17 minutes. Fossil remains may hint that the animal drove water image life, but a new approach makes it possible to confirm this and even evaluate diving abilities!

But biologists did not stop there - they restored myoglobins for the ancestors of some terrestrial animals. The result was surprising: modern elephants, hyraxes, moles and echidnas come from animals whose myoglobins were so charged! Interestingly, one recent paper suggested, based on fossil bones, that the ancestors of echidnas were swimmers. Other paleontologists have hypothesized about the aquatic ancestors of elephants and moles. Thus, myoglobin simply repeats the story that the bones began to tell.
We have no idea what the common ancestor of elephants, hyraxes, manatees and walruses looked like - we don’t have his bones. But there is a tiny molecule thanks to which we can confidently say that his muscles were adapted for diving.

Prepared from materials

It's no secret that in ancient world unique animals lived, which, unfortunately or fortunately, we were not destined to see. But the massive and huge remains testify to the greatness and strength of these mammals. Thus, in the past, animals adapted to environment, and even individuals of the same species could change under its influence. Many are interested in such a unique mammal as the mastodon. This is an animal from the proboscis order, which in many ways resembled mammoths, but also had differences from them.

Characteristics of mastodons

Nowadays, no one thinks that perhaps the mastodon is the most striking ancestor of the ordinary elephant. The main common feature of the animals, of course, is the trunk, as well as their enormous size compared to other inhabitants of the wild. At the same time, it was found that mastodons were no larger than elephants, which we can see today in zoos or on TV.

Mastodons are considered extinct mammals. They had similar features to other representatives of the proboscis order, but there were also differences. The main one is that these large mammals had paired nipple-shaped tubercles on the chewing surface of their molars. And mammoths and elephants had transverse ridges on their molars, which were separated by cement.

Origin of the name "mastodon"

It is interesting that mastodon is translated from Greek as “nipple”, “tooth”. Consequently, the name of the animal comes from the structure of its teeth. Note that some individuals had tusks in the lower jaw area, which (according to scientists) were transformed from second incisors.

Mastodons were considered herbivores, unable to harm any neighbor in big house called " Wildlife" The main dish of the proboscis order was also shrubs. However, if the mammals were frightened, they could simply kill a nearby animal with their enormous weight as a result of a sudden movement, without meaning to.

Male mastodons

Some scientists are convinced that mastodons were no taller than an ordinary elephant. Males of the proboscis order could reach three meters at the withers. It is worth noting that they preferred to live separately from the herd, that is, females and their cubs. Their sexual maturity occurred at the age of ten to fifteen. On average, mastodons lived sixty years.

It is also worth noting that there were different types mammals (the American one was described above), and almost all of them were similar. But in fact, mastodons appeared in Africa. This was 35 million years ago. A little later they moved to Europe, Asia, North and South America.

Mastodon implies an influential figure, something big, for example, a mastodon of business, a mastodon of literature) unlike an elephant, had tusks in the upper and lower jaw. A little later, the appearance of the proboscis order changed, and the number of fangs decreased to one pair. Scientists have found that about 10 thousand years ago. There were about twenty species of them.

One of the versions of the extinction of mastodons was the infection of mammals with tuberculosis. But after their disappearance they did not remain forgotten. Scientists are constantly studying the bones and tusks of mastodons, making new discoveries and delving into the history of unique mammals. In 2007, the animal's DNA was examined using its teeth. The study proved that the remains of the mastodon were from 50 to 130 thousand years old.

Thus, the mastodon is unique and not fully studied large mammal, which walked the earth tens of thousands of years ago and was considered one of the most benevolent animals. It has been proven that over time they began to eat grass, preferring it to tree leaves and shrubs, although their massive tusks made them excellent at hunting.

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Among the land animals of the Earth, one creature stands out in every way - size, impressive body, huge ears and a strange nose, very similar to the sleeve of a fire hydrant. If among the zoo’s living creatures there is at least one creature of the elephant family (and we're talking about exactly about them, as you already guessed), then this enclosure is especially popular with visitors, young and old. I decided to understand the genealogy of elephants, calculate their most distant ancestor, and, in general, understand “who is who” among the long-eared and trunk-equipped. And this is what happened to me...

It turns out that elephants, mastodons and mammoths, as well as pinnipeds, dugongs and manatees, had a common ancestor - moeritherium. Externally, the moriteriums that inhabited the Earth approximately 55 million years ago were not even close to their modern descendants - short, no higher than 60 cm at the withers, they lived in shallow water bodies of Asia in the late Eocene and were something between a pygmy hippopotamus and a pig, with a narrow and elongated muzzle.

Now about the direct ancestor of elephants, mastodons and mammoths. Their common ancestor was the paleomastodon (lat. Palaeomastodontidae), which inhabited Africa about 36 million years ago, in the Eocene. The paleomastodon had a double set of tusks in its mouth, but they were short - it probably ate tubers and roots.

No less interesting, in my opinion, a relative of modern long-eared and proboscideans was a funny animal, nicknamed by scientists Platibelodon danovi. This creature inhabited Asia in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago, and had one set of tusks and strange spade-shaped incisors on its lower jaw. Platybelodon actually did not have a trunk, but it upper lip it was wide and “corrugated” - somewhat similar to the trunk of modern elephants.

It's time to deal with more or less widely known representatives of the proboscis family - mastodons, mammoths and elephants. First of all, they are distant relatives, i.e. two modern looking elephants - African and Indian - did not descend from mammoths or mastodons. The body of mastodons (lat. Mammutidae) was covered with thick and short hair, they ate mostly grass and foliage of shrubs, and spread to Africa during the Oligocene period - about 35 million years ago.

Contrary to feature films, where the mastodon is usually depicted as an aggressive giant elephant with huge tusks, they were no larger than the modern African elephant: the height at the withers was no more than 3 meters; There were two sets of tusks - a pair of long ones on the upper jaw and short ones, practically not protruding from the mouth, on the lower jaw. Subsequently, mastodons completely got rid of a pair of lower tusks, leaving only the upper ones. Mastodons became completely extinct not so long ago, if you look from an anthropological point of view - only 10,000 years ago, i.e. our distant ancestors were well acquainted with this species of proboscis.

Mammoths (lat. Mammuthus) - the same shaggy, proboscis and with giant tusks, the remains of which are often found in Yakutia - inhabited the Earth on several continents at once, and their large family lived happily for as long as 5 million years, disappearing about 12-10,000 years ago . They were much larger than modern elephants - 5 meters tall at the withers, huge, 5-meter tusks, slightly twisted in a spiral. Mammoths lived everywhere - in South and North America, in Europe and Asia, they easily endured ice ages and protected themselves from predators, but could not cope with the bipedal ancestors of humans, who diligently reduced their population throughout the globe. Although scientists still consider the main reason for their complete and widespread extinction ice age caused by the fall of a huge meteorite in South America.

Today, two species of elephants exist and are relatively healthy - African and Indian. African elephants(lat. Loxodonta africana) with a maximum weight of 7.5 tons and a height at the withers of 4 meters, they live south of the African Sahara Desert. Just one representative of this family is in the first image of this article.

Indian elephants (lat. Elephas maximus) with a weight of 5 tons and a height of 3 meters at the withers, are common in India, Pakistan, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, Laos and Sumatra. Indian elephants have much shorter tusks than their African relatives, with females having no tusks at all.

Elephant skull (varnished, sort of)

By the way, it was the skulls of mammoths, regularly discovered by ancient Greek researchers, that formed the basis of the legends about giant Cyclops - most often there were no tusks on these skulls (nimble Africans stole them for construction purposes), and the skull itself was very similar to the remains of a colossal Cyclops. Note the hole in the frontal part of the skull, to which the trunk is connected in living elephants.

Modern species of elephants are only the remnants of the great family of proboscis, which in the distant past inhabited planet Earth...