Anancus

Taxobox
name = "Anancus"
fossil_range = Late Miocene to Early Pleistocene
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Proboscidea
familia = Gomphotheriidae
genus = "Anancus"
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
* "A. alexeevae"
* "A. arvernensis"
* "A. cuneatus"
* "A. perimensis"
* "A. sinensis"
* "A. sivalensis"
* "A. osiris"
* "A. petrocchii"
* "A. kenyensis"

"Anancus" is an extinct gomphothere genus of the order Proboscidea that lived in late Pliocene and early Pleistocene, 3-1.5 MYA.

The 2.5 m (8 ft) tall animal closely resembled a modern elephant and had two tusks, whereas other gomphotheres had four. Aside from its somewhat shorter legs, "Anancus" had one major difference compared to modern elephants: its tusks were much longer, up to 4 m (13 ft) long. The tusks were defence weapons. The molars were not composed of lamellae like those of true elephants, but had cusps, like tapir and pig molars; "Anancus" lived in forests, eating from trees and shrubs and digging out tubers and roots in the forest floor, and it died out when these forests gave way to grasslands.

Although not as famous, "Anancus" was at least as big as its cousins the mammoths.

References

*cite book|last=Benes|first=Josef|title=Prehistoric Animals and Plants|pages=p. 263|location= Prague|publisher=Artua|year=1979