family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
of
elephant
Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...
s,
Elephantidae
Elephantidae is a family of large, herbivorous proboscidean mammals collectively called elephants and mammoths. These are terrestrial large mammals with a snout modified into a trunk and teeth modified into tusks. Most genera and species in the ...
, with one surviving
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
, the
Asian elephant
The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus ''Elephas'' and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the no ...
, ''Elephas maximus''.
Several extinct species have been identified as belonging to the genus, extending back to the
Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Elephas recki'', the straight-tusked elephant ''E. antiquus'' and the
dwarf elephant
Dwarf elephants are prehistoric members of the order Proboscidea which, through the process of allopatric speciation on islands, evolved much smaller body sizes (around ) in comparison with their immediate ancestors. Dwarf elephants are an example ...
s '' E. falconeri'' and '' E. cypriotes'' are now placed in the separate genus '' Palaeoloxodon''. The genus is very closely related to the genus ''
Mammuthus
A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks and, i ...
''.
Taxonomy
The scientific name ''Elephas'' was proposed by
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...
in 1758 who described the genus and an elephant from Ceylon.
The genus is assigned to the proboscidean family
Elephantidae
Elephantidae is a family of large, herbivorous proboscidean mammals collectively called elephants and mammoths. These are terrestrial large mammals with a snout modified into a trunk and teeth modified into tusks. Most genera and species in the ...
and is made up of one living and seven extinct species:Maglio, V.J. (1973). "Origin and evolution of the Elephantidae". ''Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia Volume 63''. American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, pp. 149
* ''
Elephas maximus
''Elephas'' is one of two surviving genera in the family of elephants, Elephantidae, with one surviving species, the Asian elephant, ''Elephas maximus''.
Several extinct species have been identified as belonging to the genus, extending back t ...
Elephas maximus asurus
The Syrian elephant or Western Asiatic elephant (''Elephas maximus asurus'') was the westernmost population of the Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), which became extinct in ancient times. Skeletal remains of ''E. m. asurus'' have been record ...
'' – Syrian elephant †
The following ''Elephas'' species are extinct:
* ''
Elephas beyeri
''Elephas beyeri'' is an extinct species of dwarf elephant belonging to the Elephantidae family of the Middle Pleistocene. It was named after the anthropologist H. Otley Beyer. The type specimen was discovered on Cabarruyan Island in The Philipp ...
'' – described from
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
remains found in 1911 in
Luzon
Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...
, the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
Elephas celebensis
''Elephas celebensis'', the Sulawesi dwarf elephant, is an extinct species of elephant.
Description
''Elephas celebensis'' (sometimes referred as ''Stegoloxodon celebensis'') was about half the size of '' Archidiskodon planifrons'', to which bot ...
'' – Sulawesi dwarf elephant, described from southern Sulawesi by Hooijer in 1949; also known as ''Stegoloxodon celebensis''
* ''
Elephas ekorensis
''Elephas ekorensis'' is an extinct species of elephant. Fossils have been found in East Africa dating as far back as the Early Pliocene age, between 5 and 4.2 million years ago. It is the earliest species placed in the genus ''Elephas''.Sanders ...
'' – described from the Kubi Algi Formation, Turkana,
Kenya
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* ''
Elephas hysudricus
''Elephas hysudricus'' is an extinct elephant species and was described from fossil remains found in the Siwalik hills. It lived during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epoch
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the ge ...
'' – described from fossil remains found in the
Siwalik hills
The Sivalik Hills, also known as the Shivalik Hills and Churia Hills, are a mountain range of the outer Himalayas that stretches over about from the Indus River eastwards close to the Brahmaputra River, spanning the northern parts of the Indian ...
Elephas hysudrindicus
''Elephas hysudrindicus'', commonly known as Gajah Blora (Blora Elephant) in Indonesia is a species of extinct elephant of the Pleistocene of Java and is anatomically distinct from the extant Asian elephant ('' E. maximus'').
The head of the ...
'' – a fossil elephant of the
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...
of
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...
Elephas iolensis
''Elephas iolensis'', also spelled ''Elephas jolensis'', is an extinct species of elephant. The type specimen is located in the National Museum of Natural History (France), National Museum of Natural History in Paris. It is only known from isolat ...
''
* ''
Elephas platycephalus
''Elephas platycephalus'' is an extinct species of large herbivorous mammals that were closely related to Asian elephants. It lived between 130,000 and 700,000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene epoch. Fossils have been found in the upper Si ...
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