Gomphotherium
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| Gomphotherium Fossil range: Early Miocene to Early Pliocene |
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Gomphotherium (pronunciation: gom-fo-THEER-ee-um) ("Welded Beast") is an extinct genus of proboscid, which lived during the Early Miocene and Pliocene of Europe (France, Germany, Austria), North America (Kansas), Asia (Pakistan) and Africa (Kenya).
The 3 m (10 ft) tall creature, also known as Trilophodon or Tetrabelodon, resembled a modern elephant but had four tusks instead of two: two on the upper jaw and two on the elongated lower jaw. The lower ones are parallel and shaped like a shovel and were probably used as such. Unlike modern elephants, the upper tusks were covered by a layer of enamel. Compared to elephants, the skull was more elongated and low. These animals probably lived in swamps or near lakes, using their tusks to dig or scrape up aquatic vegetation. In comparison to earlier proboscids, Gomphotherium had far fewer molars; the remaining ones had high ridges to expand their grinding surface.
A complete skeleton of Gomphotherium has been found at Mühldorf, Germany, in 1971.
