The elephant line begins
Moeritherium is the size of a pig, lives in swamps, and has the first hint of a trunk.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 22 million years
- Known to
- ± 2 million years
- Era
- Eocene, Cenozoic
Early proboscideans are unimposing. Phosphatherium, from Morocco, is one of the oldest and stands perhaps 30 centimetres at the shoulder; Moeritherium, from the Fayum, is tapir-like and semi-aquatic, with slightly enlarged incisors that foreshadow tusks and a retracted nasal opening that suggests a short proboscis. Isotopes confirm it fed in freshwater swamps. Everything that defines elephants — size, trunk, tusks, molar conveyor — is assembled gradually from this stock over the following 30 million years.