The Elephant is represented in the Preglacial and Glacial epochs by several species, some of which ranged as far north as Siberia. The African elephant is not now found north of the Pyrenees and the Alps. But a species of dwarf elephant, but four or five feet in height, has already been referred to as having occupied Malta and Sicily; and still another species has been found in Malta, whose average height was less than three feet. An extinct species (Elephas antiquus), whose remains are found in the river-drift and in the lower strata of sediment in many caverns as far north as Yorkshire, England, was of unusual size, and during the Glacial period was found on both sides of the Mediterranean. But the species most frequently met with in palæolithic times was the mammoth (Elephas primigenius). This animal, now extinct, accompanied man in nearly every portion both of Europe and North America, and lingered far down into post-glacial times before becoming extinct. This animal was nearly twice the weight of the modern elephant, and one third taller. Occasionally his tusks were more than twelve feet long, and curved upward in a circle. It is the carcasses of this animal which have been found in the frozen soil of Siberia and Alaska. It had a thick covering of long, black hair, with a dense matting of reddish wool at the roots. During the Glacial period these animals must have roamed in vast herds over the plains of northern France and southern England, and the northern half of North America.
Fig. 85.—Celebrated skeleton of mammoth, in St. Petersburg museum.
Fig. 86.—Molar tooth of mammoth (Elephas primigenius): a, grinding surface; b, side view.
The Hippopotamus is at present a familiar animal in the larger rivers of Africa, but is not now found in Europe. During the Glacial period, however, he ranged as far north as Yorkshire, England, and his remains were found in close association with those of man, both in Europe and on the Pacific coast in America. Twenty tons of their bones have been taken from a single cave in Sicily.[DJ]
[DJ] Prestwich’s Geology, vol. ii, p. 508.