Zygolophodon Temporal range: 17–0.781 Ma |
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Skull | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Proboscidea |
Family: | †Mammutidae |
Genus: |
†Zygolophodon Vacek 1877 |
Species | |
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The inferred range of Zygolophodon | |
Synonyms | |
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Zygolophodon is an extinct genus of African, Asian, North American and European mammutid that lived from the Miocene to the .
It may have evolved from Tetralophodon. While collecting fossils in the Clarno Formation of Oregon during 1941, noted paleobotanists Alonzo W. Hancock and Chester A. Arnold recovered the most complete Zygolophodon skull known at the time.
Zygolophodon borsoni is a large species that was sometimes considered as a species of Mammut, and it was one of the largest terrestrial mammals of all time. With a shoulder height of about 3.9–4.1 metres (12.8–13.5 ft) and a weight of about 14–16 tonnes (15.4–17.6 short tons), it approached the size of Paraceratherium, and was heavier than several sauropod dinosaurs.