Gomphotherium

Gomphotherium productum

Resurrected on:

13 feb. 2020

Genus information

Gomphotherium is an extinct relative of the modern elephant and lived during the Miocene and Pliocene epoch in North America, Eurasia and Africa. It resembled a modern-day elephant in appearance, but it had two longer tusks in its upper jaw and two small tusks in its elongated lower jaw. The lower tusks are shaped like a shovel and were probably used for digging up food from the ground. Also, its skull was more elongated and closer to the ground compared to elephants, fitting this feeding behaviour. Gomphotherium probably lived in swamps and wooded regions near lakes and rivers.

Family:

Distribution:

Epoch:

Gomphotheriidae

North America, Eurasia and Africa

Miocene to Pleistocene

Species information

The Gomphotherium-genus consists of over 20 species and were found across the Northern Hemisphere and Africa. G. productum lived during the Miocene epoch of North America and fossils have been found in the USA. The species is known from a 35-year-old male specimen with a very short tail, which would indicate it lived in a colder climate. G. productum was a large gomphothere and stood about 2.5 meters high at the shoulders.

Species:

Paleontologist:

Distribution:

Epoch:

Gomphotherium productum

Cope, 1874

North America

Miocene

Length:

Height:

Weight:

4.2 m

2.5 m

4.600 kg

Reference:

Fox, D. L., & Fisher, D. C. (2001). Stable isotope ecology of a late Miocene population of Gomphotherium productus (Mammalia, Proboscidea) from Port of Entry Pit, Oklahoma, USA. Palaios, 16(3), 279-293.