Deinotherium

Deinotherium Temporal range: Middle Miocene–Early Pleistocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
D. giganteum skeleton cast from the Azov Museum of History, Archaeology and Paleontology
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Proboscidea
Family:	†Deinotheriidae
Subfamily:	†Deinotheriinae
Genus:	†Deinotherium Kaup, 1829
Type species
†Deinotherium giganteum Kaup, 1829
Species
D. bozasi (Arambourg, 1934) D. giganteum (Kaup, 1829) D. indicum (Falconer, 1845) D.? levius (Jourdan, 1861) D.? proavum (Eichwald, 1831)

Deinotherium is an extinct genus of large, elephant-like proboscideans that lived from about the middle-Miocene until the early Pleistocene. Although its appearance is reminiscent of modern elephants, Deinotherium possessed a notably more flexible neck, with limbs adapted to a more cursorial lifestyle, as well as tusks which grew down and curved back from the lower jaw, as opposed to the upper mandible tusks seen in extant elephants. Deinotherium was a widespread genus, ranging from East Africa, north to southern Europe, and east to the Indian subcontinent. They were primarily browsing animals, with a diet largely consisting of leaves. The genus most likely went extinct due to environmental changes, such as forested areas gradually being replaced by open grasslands, during the latter half of the Neogene. Deinotherium thrived the longest in Africa, where they were found into the early Pleistocene.