proboscidean: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As	Proboscidea

Photos

Side-by-side illustration comparing the American mastodon (Mammut americanum), woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), and modern African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana), showing differences in size, body shape, and tusks, with a scale bar indicating 1 meter and 3 feet.

African elephant (Loxodonta africana) standing on grassy plain with distant trees and hills in Amboseli National Park, Kenya.

Moeritherium, reconstruction painting by Charles R. Knight

A timeline diagram shows the evolutionary history of modern elephants, depicting Gomphotherium as an ancient ancestor branching into the woolly mammoth, American mastodon, Asian elephant, African savanna elephant, and African forest elephant, with illustrations of each species and labeled time periods from the Eocene to the present.

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Topics

Moeritherium elephant mammal ungulate placental mammal primate artiodactyl perissodactyl cetacean bat carnivore rodent insectivore sirenian lagomorph

Mute swan with cygnet. (birds)

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Sea otter (Enhydra lutris), also called great sea otter, rare, completely marine otter of the northern Pacific, usually found in kelp beds. Floats on back. Looks like sea otter laughing. saltwater otters

Animal Group Names

The bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) is seen in Switzerland on December 2024

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Lion (panthera leo)

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Young chimpanzee dressed in a shirt and sweater vest, scratching his head thinking. (primates)

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