The Rise of the Mammals 



vived, as it would be extremely interesting to 

 see what use, if any, the animals made of these 

 seemingly superfluous tusks. The tusks dif- 

 fered from those of living elephants in having 

 a band of enamel down the front, of no use 

 whatever, so far as can be seen, but a hint of 

 distant relationship, by way of some ancestor 

 many times removed to gnawing animals. 



In the Pliocene, too, occur the remains of 

 the great southern mammoth, Elephas colmrnb% 

 a species which not only preceded the more 

 familiar hairy or northern mammoth in point 

 of time, but outstripped him in size. For this 

 and a near relative, Elephas imperator, were 

 the largest of land mammals, in this country 

 at least, reaching a height of 13 feet, or pos- 

 sibly 6 inches more. 



If this seems disappointingly small, it must 

 be borne in mind that the great majority of 

 elephants seen in menageries are under 8 feet 

 in height, and very few of them over 9. And 

 every additional foot of height adds greatly to 

 the bulk of an elephant, so that one 13 feet 

 tall would weigh about 10 tons ; and while this 



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