African ElephantBy: Declan Duggan

Family Tree

Timeline

Paleocene 65.5 -55.8 M.Y.A

Eocene:55.8-33.9 M.Y.A

Oligocene: 33.9-23.03 M.Y.A

Miocene: 23.03-5.332 M.Y.A

Pilocene: 5.332-2.588 M.Y.A

Quaternary: 2.588-present

African ElephantPrimelephasPalaeomastodon

African ElephantTime period: Cenozoic

• Diet:Grasses, leaves, bamboo, bark, roots. Elephants are also known to eat crops like banana and sugarcane which are grown by farmers. Adult elephants eat 300-400 LBS of food per day.

Habitat

African savannah elephants are found in savannahs in 37 countries south of the Sahara Desert. African forest elephants inhabit the dense rainforests of west and central Africa.

Population

• Population:470,000-690,000• The African Elephants are being hunted for

their tusks made of ivory. The population has dropped by half since 1970.

Predators

• The African Elephant’s predators are lions, wild dogs, crocodiles, and hyenas.

Adaptations/Environmental mutations

• The African Elephant has a long flexible truck that allows them to get food off high trees.

• The African Elephants can suck up and spray water on itself with its trunk to cool down in hot climates.

• The elephants needed these changes because the food in the trees were getting higher

Primelephas

• Habitat: The woodlands of Africa• Diet: Herbivore• Predators: None

Time Period: Pilocene

Adaptations/Environmental Changes

• The Primelephas gained shovel like tusks so it was easier to dig up their food

• The Primelephas needed this adaptation because the ground was getting harder and it had to dig up food.

Palaeomastodon

• Diet: Herbivore• Habitat: Egypt, Ethopia, and Saudi Arabia• Predators: Apterodon, Pterodon and

Hyaenodon

Time Period: Eocene

Adaptations

• The Palaeomastodon’s adaptation is that it has many sets of molars. They have this because they move their jaw back and fourth to grind their food instead of chewing it.

Credits• http://phanimaladaptations.weebly.com/african-elephants.html• http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/elephant#Diet• http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/mesozoicmammals/p/primelephas.htm• http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/fossils.htm• https://www.google.com• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page• http://elephant.elehost.com/About_Elephants/Stories/Evolution/

evolution.html• http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/cenozoic/cenozoic.php