adaurora put it at a great advantage over more primitive elephants, in that it could probably use less energy to chew more food and live longer to have more offspring,вЂќ said Sanders, associate research scientist at the U-M Museum of Paleontology and in the Department of Anthropology. Many of these animals were becoming grazers and competing for the available grasses. вЂњThe evident synchronization of morphological adaptations and feeding behavior revealed by this study of Loxodonta adaurora may explain why it became the dominant elephant species of the early Pliocene,вЂќ said Sanders, who has studied fossil elephants and their relatives for nearly 40 years in Africa and Arabia.Д®astern Africa was home to seven or eight known species of early elephants at the time, along with horses, antelope, rhinos, pigs and hippos. Image credit: Steve Jabo, Smithsonian Institution Meave Leakey, left, and William Sanders examining the Loxodonta adaurora cranium KNM-ER 63642 in its plaster jacket at the Ileret research facility of the Turkana Basin Institute. In addition, the animalвЂ™s molars are higher-crowned and had thicker coatings of cementum than other early elephants, making the teeth more resistant to the wear common in animals that feed on grasses close to the ground. adaurora cranium is striking because it is raised and compressed from front to back, suggesting a novel alignment of chewing muscles well-suited for the efficient shearing of grasses. Co-authors include Meave and Louise Leakey, who led the recovery effort and who are best known for the discovery of early hominid specimens and artifacts from Lake Turkana and elsewhere. adaurora an edge when competing with other large mammals for grasses, according to Sanders, lead author of a study published online Oct. KNM-ER 63642 is both impressively immense and unexpectedly modern in aspect, displaying adaptations that likely gave L. Known by its museum number, KNM-ER 63642, the roughly 2-ton cranium belonged to a massive adult male of the species Loxodonta adaurora, an extinct evolutionary cousin of modern African elephants but not a direct ancestor. It is about 85% intact and holds a wealth of previously unavailable anatomical detail, according to University of Michigan paleontologist William Sanders. Image credit: Carol Abraczinskas, University of Michigan Museum of PaleontologyДЄ remarkably well-preserved fossil elephant cranium from Kenya is helping scientists understand how its species became the dominant elephant in eastern Africa several million years ago, a time when a cooler, drier climate allowed grasslands to spread and when habitually bipedal human ancestors first appeared on the landscape.Дated to 4.5 million years ago and recovered from a site on the northeast side of Lake Turkana, it is the only well-preserved elephant cranium-the portion of the skull that encloses the brain-from that time. KNM-ER 63642 was recovered from Area 14 (highlighted). B.) Detailed map of fossil localities in the Ileret Region. The green dot indicates the position of Ileret. A.) Map of the area of interest for the recovery of elephant cranium KNM-ER 63642 (Loxodonta adaurora), Ileret Region, northeast side of Lake Turkana.

Map of the geographic position of Ileret Kenya and locality Area 14.

Keykey the elephant