South African mammoth Temporal range: Early Pliocene |
|
---|---|
Skeletal restoration | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Proboscidea |
Family: | Elephantidae |
Genus: | †Mammuthus |
Species: | †M. subplanifrons |
Binomial name | |
Mammuthus subplanifrons Osborn, 1928 |
Mammuthus subplanifrons, or the South African mammoth, is the oldest representative of the genus Mammuthus, appearing around 5 million years ago during the early Pliocene in what is today South Africa and countries of East Africa, especially Ethiopia. They already presented some of the unique characteristics of mammoths like the spirally, twisting tusks. It was 3.68 metres (12.1 ft) tall at the shoulder and weighed about 9 tonnes (8.9 long tons; 9.9 short tons).