| “ | Creatures like the giant elephant-like Deinotherium might look like elephants, but they are three times the size with tusks that curve downwards for stripping bark off trees. | „ |
| — Allen Johnson, about Deinotherium in The Walking Ape | ||
Deinotherium (name meaning "Terrible Beast") is a genus of large proboscidean that originated during the Early Miocene epoch in what is now Africa, Europe, and Asia. Standing 5 meters tall and weighing 12 tons, Deinotherium is one of the largest terrestrial mammals of all time, far larger and more aggressive than the modern elephants.
In the Series 3 episode "The Walking Ape", a male and a couple females, including a mother Deinotherium with her baby, were brought to the park from Late Pliocene Africa 3.2 million years ago. The female reside in the Giraffe Grasslands enclosure while the male resides in a separate enclosure due to his aggression.
Later while traveling through Early Pleistocene Africa, 2 million years ago, a Deinotherium was seen grazing on trees.
Facts[]
Era & Discovery[]
Deinotherium lived in Africa during the Early Miocene and through to the Early Pleistocene, from 20 – 2 million years ago. They may have lived due to climate changes, which caused their habitat to become too dry and along with the other ancient mammals, such as the Dinofelis and Ancylotherium, they became endangered. Humans, like the Homo Habilis and Homo Ergaster, became better at hunting, and killed off the remaining Deinotherium.
Deinotherium was first discovered in the early 19th century and was named by German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1829.
Physical Attributes[]
Deinotherium skeleton
Deinotherium was a large mammal, in fact, it was the second-largest land mammal ever to exist, only succeeded by Paraceratherium. Due to this immense size and bulk, Deinotherium was the largest animal in its ecosystem. At 12 tons (24,000 lbs.), 13 – 16 feet (4 – 5 m) tall at the shoulder, and 26 feet (8 m) from trunk to tail, this truly was a monstrous mammal. It had the basic body plan of a modern elephant, except on a larger scale, in fact, they were 3 times larger than ordinary elephants.
Deinotherium also had a smaller trunk than most of its ancestors and relatives. Its ears were small, like a modern Asian Elephant's. Deinotherium, like its relatives, possessed a pair of tusks. However, unlike modern elephants, the tusks of Deinotherium positioned on the tip of its lower jaw rather than the skull were several feet long, curved and pointed downwards. This bizarre design was especially useful when it came to stripping the bark off of tree trunks to chew with their massive molars.
Behavior & Traits[]
Like modern elephants, male Deinotherium would undergo musth when ready to mate. During these sessions, they would become extremely aggressive and would attack anything. Surprisingly, these animals also traveled in small groups but were also solitary animals.
Females, especially mothers, displayed some degree of aggression like modern elephants, by just chasing other animals off. For a medium-sized animal, even young Deinotherium were worth avoiding. Our ancestors, Australopithecus, would have encountered these animals. They probably had intense fear over the mere sight of a male or mother Deinotherium, which would have charged at anything in its way.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The sound effects of Deinotherium were slightly modified elephant sounds as well as bull, walrus, and some polar bear sounds to give it a more awesome and intimidating appearance.
- Deinotherium was the second largest mammal and the second largest elephant brought the park.