Stegodon facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Stegodon |
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| Stegodon skeleton at the Gansu Provincial Museum. | |
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Stegodontinae
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Stegodon
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Stegodon is a genus of the extinct subfamily Stegodontinae of the order Proboscidea. Stegodonts were present from 11.6 million years ago (mya) to the late Pleistocene. There are unconfirmed records of regional survival until 4,100 years ago. Fossils are found in Asian and African strata dating from the late Miocene. They lived in large parts of Asia, East and Central Africa and North America during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs.
Stegodon was one of the largest proboscideans, along with more derived genera. S. zdansky is known from an old male (50+) from the Yellow River that is 3.87 metres (12.7 ft) tall and weighed approximately 12.7 tonnes (12.5 long tons; 14.0 short tons). It had a humerus 1.21 metres (4.0 ft) long, a femur 1.46 metres (4.8 ft) long, and a pelvis 2 metres (6.6 ft) wide. Some were much smaller due to island dwarfism.
The teeth of Stegodon show that it was mainly a browser.
Images for kids
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Fossils of S. aurorae (left) and S. orientalis (right) at the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo
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Skull of S. ganesha
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Fossilized Stegodon jaw with molar displayed at Philippine National Museum
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Fossilized Stegodon jaw with molar displayed at Philippine National Museum
See also
In Spanish: Stegodon para niños
