Stégodon
The stégodon is a kind of elephant now disappeared which lived during the Pliocène and the Pléistocène. A small population survived up to 12.000 years before our era on the island of Florès. Its name comes from the Greek stegein (“to cover”) and odon (“tooth”), related to the projections characteristic appearing on the molars of the animal. The stégodon could go down from the Gomphotherium and be itself the ancestor of the Mammouth and the Indian elephant Elephas maximus .
In the National park of Bardia, with the Nepal, one finds elephants Asian which, in consequence of consanguineous crossings, resemble the stégodon much and could preserve some characteristics of them. Some think on the contrary that these primitive attributes would be related to recent changes and not with a form of Atavisme. However, one knows with certainty that stégodons them were still alive 12.000 years ago, and it is thus possible that their genetic inheritance can still remain in certain populations isolated from Asian elephants.
Six species of stégodon are known:
- Stegodon airawana
- Stegodon aurorae
- Stegodon ganesha
- Stegodon orientalis
- Stegodon shinshuensis
- Stegodon trigonocephalus
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