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Platybelodon spp.
Topic Started: Feb 18 2013, 11:08 AM (3,769 Views)
linnaeus1758
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Platybelodon spp.

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Temporal range: Miocene, 15–4Ma.

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidea
Family: †Gomphotheriidae
Tribe: †Amebelodontini
Genus: †Platybelodon (Borissiak, 1928)

Platybelodon ("flat-spear tusk") was a genus of large herbivorous mammal related to the elephant. It lived during the Miocene Epoch, about 15-4 million years ago, and ranged over Africa, Europe, Asia and North America. Although it thrived during its time, it did not survive past the Miocene.

Species:
Platybelodon danovi (Borissiak, 1928) (type)
Platybelodon grangeri (Osborn, 1929)
Platybelodon loomisi (Barbour, 1929)
Platybelodon barnumbrowni (Barbour, 1931)

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Description
Robust and heavy as a small elephant, could grow to 3 meters high.
Platybelodon was a Gomphothere, a member of a family that contained several other early elephant-like animals that had modified shovel-like tusks (along with the recognizable trunks). Two teeth were disproportionately long and wide, however, the teeth (protruding into the mammoths, mastodons and elephants) were small and insignificant.
Platybelodon was previously believed to have fed in the swampy areas of grassy savannas, using its teeth to shovel up aquatic and semi-aquatic vegetation. However, wear patterns on the teeth suggest that it used its lower tusks to strip bark from trees, and may have used the sharp incisors that formed the edge of the "shovel" more like a modern-day scythe, grasping branches with its trunk and rubbing them against the lower teeth to cut it from a tree.

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Edited by linnaeus1758, Jun 13 2014, 04:19 PM.
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Vobby
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I just remembered about this fantastic animal, it's unique enough to deserve more attention.
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Ausar
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Yeah. I've learned about Platybelodon from books and at least one computer game when I was a little kid. Pretty interesting creature.

Though, knowing its weight would be good as well (I can't seem to find a reliable source).
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