Straight-tusked elephant

The straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) is an extinct species of elephant closely related to the living Asian elephant. It inhabited Europe during the Middle and Late Pleistocene (781,000–50,000 years before present). Some experts[who?] regard the smaller Asian species, Palaeoloxodon namadicus, as a variant or subspecies.

Description
The creature was 3.9 m (13 ft) tall, weighing about 6,000–7,000 kg (13,000–15,000 lb), and had long, slightly upward-curving tusks.[1] P. antiquus's legs were slightly longer than those of modern elephants. This elephant is thought to have had an 80-cm-long tongue that could be projected a short distance from the mouth to grasp leaves and grasses.[citation needed] With this tongue and a flexible trunk, straight-tusked elephants could graze or browse on Pleistocene foliage about 8 m above ground.

Behavior
Straight-tusked elephants lived in small herds of about five to 15 individuals.[citation needed] They preferred warm conditions and flourished in the interglacial periods during the current Ice Age, spreading from continental Europe to Great Britain during the warmer periods. It is assumed that they preferred wooded environments. During colder periods, the species migrated south. It became extinct in Britain by the beginning of the last glacial, about 115,000 years ago.[contradiction] Eventually it was replaced by the mammoth.