Page 103 - Prehistoric Animals

Platy-Bel-O-Don

Platybelodon

Platybelodon (flat-spear tusk) is an extinct ge-
nus of large herbivorous proboscidean mammals relat-
ed to modern-day elephants. It lived during the Mio-
cene Epoch, about 15 to 4 million years ago, and was
about 5 metres in length, 2 metres in height and weight
in around 2 to 3 tonnes. It’s also a genus of the family
Amebelodontidae, a group of several genera of large
herbivorous proboscidean mammals related to ele-
phants and known collectively by the nickname ‘shovel
tuskers’.

Platybelodon had a body structure that looks
very similar to the modern day elephant; however,
there the similarity ends. Its head supports a pair of
forward facing tusks protruding from its upper jaw with
an exceptionally long lower jaw shaped like a broad
shovel. Two large sharp cutting teeth protrude from
the front edge of this shovel-like jaw. Its actual chewing
teeth are situated at the back of this oddly shaped
mouth.

Platybelodon was an herbivore, and ever since
its naming by Borissiak in 1928, people have puzzled
over just how Platybelodon managed to collect the food
it ate. Some thought it used its tusks to dig plants out of
the ground and the lower jaw to feed them into its
mouth. A more popular theory was; as it was known to
live on or near swampy marshlands, it used the long
lower jaw to scoop or shovel the marchlands wet plants
and vegetation into its mouth; hence the nickname
‘shovel tuskers’. However, fossil records show it dieted
partly at least, on tree bark and twigs. The now widely
accepted theory is that it used its tusks to steady
branches and its two large jaw teeth to saw through
them. Bark was stripped from trees with the two sharp
jaw teeth.

Platybelodon was a remarkable animal found in
Asia, Europe, North America and Africa. It was be-
lieved to have inhabited the planet for a good part of 10
million years. However, it was climate change that fi-
nally resulted in its disappearance. Its extinction is
thought to have been brought about by drought de-
stroying the habitat it was so dependent.