"THE LINEAGE OF ELEPHANTS TRACES BACK SOME 55 MILLION YEARS..."
PIC INFO: Spotlight on a prehistoric elephant piece titled "The "Micro"-Evolution of Elephants," undated, depicting the evolution of our planet's proboscideans over the course of over 50 million years. Artist unknown.
"The lineage of elephants traces back some 55 million years. Ancestors gave rise to various branches as well as to the direct line leading to living elephants. Early proboscideans originated in Africa and southwest Asia and migrated via land bridge to every continent except Antarctica and Australia.
Changes in climate and food supply -- and perhaps overhunting in the Pleistocene -- caused widespread extinctions, leaving modern elephants as then only survivors."
-- "THE "MICRO"-EVOLUTION OF ELEPHANTS"
The proboscideans featured here are: Moeritherium, Deinotherium, Palaeomastodon, Mammut, Gomphotherium, Stegodon, Primelephas, Mammuthus, Elephas (Asian elephant), and Loxodonta (African elephant).
Source: www.pinterest.com/pin/omniologycom--799107527601417193.