A pair of Platybelodon grazing in a shallow stream

A pair of 3-ton herbivorous proboscidean mammals, a male and female of the genus Platybelodon, follow a shallow stream 9 million years ago in what is today North America. Sharing the scene are stilts (genus Himantopus) foraging for insects and small crustaceans. Related to modern elephants, Platybelodon were approximately the same size, and in addition to upper tusks they had a pair of flattened shovel tusks on their lower jaw. These lower tusks may have been used to scoop up aquatic and semi-aquatic vegetation and/or scrape edible bark from trees. Platybelodon fossils have been found in North America, Eurasia and Africa. This genus became extinct about 6 million years ago

Cenozoic Ecosystem Fang Grazing Himantopus Hoofed Megafauna Miocene Neogene Paleobotany Paleogeography Platybelodon Pliocene Proboscidea Roaming Savanna Shallow Stilt Terrain Tertiary Tortonian Tusk Vegetation Wetlands

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