Naumann's elephant

Naumann's elephant (†Palaeoloxodon naumanni (Makiyama, 1924))

Synonyms: Elephas namadicus, Elephas namadicus naumannni, Palaeoloxodon namadicus naumannni

Order: Proboscidea

Family: Elephantidae

Dimensions: length - 5 m (with tusks), height - 2,8 m, weight - 5 000 kg

Temporal range: during the Middle to Late Pleistocene around 330,000 to 24,000 years ago (Japanese archipelago) 

Palaeoloxodon naumanni is an extinct species of elephant belonging to the genus Palaeoloxodon that was native to the Japanese archipelago. The species like other elephants was sexually dimorphic, with P. naumanni having a reconstructed shoulder height of 2.4–2.8 metres, for males and around 2 metres for females. This is relatively small in comparison to other normal Palaeoloxodon species. The shoulders represent the highest position of the back. 

Palaeoloxodon naumanni is known from hundreds of localities across the Japanese archipelago, ranging from southern Kyushu, northwards to northern Honshu and to Hokkaido.The most recent reliable dates for the species are around 24,000 years Before Present, during the early stages of the Last Glacial Maximum. It is suggested that it preferred temperate forested habitats, including deciduous broad-leaved trees and conifers, and is thought to have inhabited a wide range of altitudes, from sea level to over 1,000 metres. Dental microwear analysis of a specimen from Yamanashi Prefecture suggests that it had a diet heavy in coarse browse like bark and twigs. Palaeoloxodon naumanni lived alongside other megafauna species, including the extinct giant deer Sinomegaceros yabei, moose, the extinct steppe bison, bears, tigers and wolves.

Some authors have suggested that its extinction was due to climatic change resulting in loss of habitat and population fragmentation, while others suggest humans may have been a contributing factor in the extinction.