Dwarf elephant facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Dwarf elephantsTemporal range: Pleistocene
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| Skeleton of a Cretan Dwarf elephant. | |
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Proboscidea
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Dwarf elephants are prehistoric elephants which lived in the Pleistocene period. They are an example of island dwarfism.
Fossil remains of dwarf elephants have been found on the Mediterranean islands of Cyprus, Malta, Crete, Sicily, Sardinia, the Cyclades Islands and Dodecanese islands. Other islands where dwarf elephants have been found are Sulawesi, Flores, Timor and other islands of the Lesser Sundas and the Channel Islands of California.
They are considered to be one of the only elephant of the Mediterranean islands belonging to the mammoth line.
Images for kids
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Palaeoloxodon falconeri skeleton cast
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Palaeoloxodon falconeri
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Skeleton of a Cretan dwarf mammoth
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Detail of a painting in the Ancient Egyptian tomb of Rekhmire (c. 1470-1445 BCE), possibly representing a dwarf elephant (lower left) and brown bear among presents brought by ancient Syrians.
