Evolution Of Elephant Research Paper

Words: 600
Pages: 3

Introduction: Elephant-like creatures have been around for more than 50 million years and over that period of 50 million years around 300 species of elephant have walked the Earth. What differentiates these species? How have they evolved? What the ancestors were like compared to today’s elephants? What evolutionary traits were passed on, and which traits disappeared? What discoveries have led to the exploration in the evolution of elephants? Overall what does this tell us? Elephants used to be vast they lived all over the globe what happened? Why di their ancestors become extinct?
Paragraph 1: Elephants are matriarch headed, the female takes the lead accompanied by the rest of the herd, and however females make most of the decisions. Herds can range anywhere between 2 and 50 elephants. Elephants do not pick their leaders however leadership is passed down through each generation within the herd. Wooly mammoths which are believed to be ancestors of elephants also traveled together within herds in order to keep warm in the arctic like
…show more content…
Today there are only two members of the order proboscidea left. Proboscidea are the largest living animals on earth today Fossil records of Asian and African elephants indicate that more than 300 species of elephant walked the Earth over a time period of 50 million years. The oldest ancestor that we know of was the Moeritherium Moeritherium; this ancestor was the size of a pig and lived in swamp like environments. The first proboscidian that somewhat resembled a modern elephant occurred 35 million years ago its name was the plasmastadon. The plasmastadon was around the size of a cow, had tusks, and a short trunk. Modern elephants as well as recently distinct mammoths which became extinct around 10,000 years ago only began to evolve around 5 million years