Surely you know some rare animals , since if you are a follower of our website, you will have read some articles about it. Although in this article we are going to talk about one of the rarest that you have surely imagined, it is also extinct, so no graphic documents of it are preserved. His name was platybelodon and he was an ancestor of the current elephant .
This rare animal, lived during the Miocene does a whopping more than fifteen million years. It could be found on most continents, since evidence of its existence has been discovered in Asia , America, Europe and Africa. If you want to discover more about this fascinating animal, you just have to read these lines. Uncover it!
Platybelodon. 10 curiosities of the elephant with a trunk that opened
1. Open horn
The main and most curious feature of platybelodon is its trunk, which it opened and in which he had two big teeth . It is believed that his mouth had this curious shape of a shovel, since he used it to feed himself and take all the vegetable foods he could find among the waters.
2. It did not have a large size
If we compare them with other extinct animals of that time, the platybelodon did not have a large size. It is believed, from the evidence found, that its size was similar to that of the African elephant that exists in our times. So really, there was nothing extraordinary or striking in its scope .
3. Very curious name
Surely, something that has caught your attention soon is the curious name of this extinct animal. Its literal meaning is "Tooth of spade" , which describes in a very exact way the peculiar shape that had its mouth.
4. Powerful teeth
At first, after examining the remains that have survived to this day, it was believed that it only fed on aquatic plants that it captured with its strange trunk. After studying his impressive tusks more closely, it became clear that these were very worn. So it was concluded that the platybelodon the used to peel the bark off the trees and cut its branches . Without a doubt, he had to have powerful teeth to destroy a tree in a similar way.
5. Discovered for the first time in the early twentieth century
This amazing animal was first described in the year 1920, after locating its remains in paleontological excavations . Before that time, there was no news of such a rare elephant and from that year all zoologists began to discuss all aspects of the animal, including of course its trunk.
6. Trunk like a shovel
Another curious functionality of the tip of the platybelodon is to dig holes as if it were a spade. It is believed that he was performing these small incisions in the earth to feed on the roots of plants that could not find on their surface. He was the only extinct animal that specialized in this curious way of finding food.
7. Peaceful, but terrifying
It seems a great contradiction, but although the behavior of these great beings was peaceful and really were herbivores, their appearance could be tremendously overwhelming. In addition to its corpulence, the lower teeth were great weapons and of an exceptional hardness as we have already commented previously.
8. Smaller ears
Another difference with the current elephant we know, is that the ears of the platybelodon were quite small if we compare them with the rest of your body . We have the image of the big ears of the current elephants, but these have no comparison with those of their ancestors who had not developed them so much.
9. Similarities with the Amebelodon
This species, also extinct, was very similar to the platybelodon since it had a very similar trunk. Although it emerged after our protagonist and had more resemblance to the current elephants, since they had a trunk and long teeth came from a mouth that was different. Further, They were considerably larger than the platybelodones.
10. Species
Another very curious fact about the platybelodon, is that despite having disappeared millions of years ago it is known that there were several species of the same animals. In total there are four registered: the platybelodon spectabilis, danovi, cyrenaicus and grangeri . Each one with a differentiating nuance, but very similar among them.
As you may have noticed, the platybelodon was an animal of the most curious and that has caused much controversy among experts. His discovery was very important for the zoology since one of the missing links of the current known elephant was discovered, besides checking the rare way of feeding that he had. We can observe its skeleton in some museums and imagine this powerful animal cutting trunks thanks to its shovel-shaped trunk and its two incredible teeth. If you liked this article, we are looking forward to your writing to read your comments. Cheer up!