Deinotherium

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Deinotherium
Front Back
Monsters of the Past
Previous	Coelurosauravus
Next	Coelophysis
Card	101
Creature Features
Species	Deinotherium/Various
Size	Height up to 15 ft.; Weight up to 13,220 lbs.
Where?	Fossils have been found in Europe, Africa and Asia
When?	20 to 1.5 million years ago
Food	Vegetation and stripped tree bark
Did You Know?
Deinotherium fossils have been found at many African sites that also include the remains of early hominids, like Australopithecus.

Less than two million years ago, the second-largest mammal ever to walk the Earth roamed the woodlands of Europe, Asia and Africa. Deinotherium was the massive forefather of modern elephants-second in size only to the mighty Indricotherium. Though it shared some traits with its modern relatives, deinotherium had one striking difference: downward-facing, fang-like tusks that sprung from its lower jaw.

Head of the Class: Deinotherium's skull was smaller and flatter on top than that of modern elephants. This leads experts to believe that deinotherium also had a smaller brain-meaning it was less intelligent.

Fangs a Lot: Deinotherium's tusks were unlike those of most other prehistoric elephants. Their curved shape made them perfect for scraping the bark off trees and, possibly, for digging for roots and tubers.

Wrecking Machine

The massive deinotherium would have been taller than a garbage truck.

Though its tusks and trunk looked different than those of modern elephants, deinotherium probably used them in the same way. Fossils show that the animal used its tusks to strip the bark off trees. It then would place the bark in its mouth with its trunk. Once it pulled off all the bark it could reach, deinotherium probably used its strong trunk to push the whole tree over, so it could strip the leaves off the upper branches. Like today's elephants, the deinotherium could wreak havoc on the woodlands where it roamed.

Bathing Beauty: A 4.5-foot long deinotherium tusk and several softball-size teeth were found on the island of Crete. This led some researchers to think that deinotheres-like elephants-were good swimmers and traveled by water in search of food.

Big Man on Campus: An adult deinotherium was so big that scientists believe it had no natural predators.

Gods and Monsters

When ancient Greeks found the fossilized remains of deinotherium bones and teeth, they thought they had discovered the skeletons of mythical monsters and gods. Some researchers think that a deinotherium skull-which has a hole in the center for its trunk-might have given rise to the legend of the Cyclops.

Trading Card

Deinotherium The ancient cousin of the elephants shared its habitat with early humans, and fueled the imaginations of the first human societies. People who found its skulls thought they were the remains of monsters like Cyclops. Say What? Deinotherium means "terrible beast." Stats Life 130 Attack 3 Defense 7

Trivia

• The back of the card references the Cyclops card, more specifically a theory of elephant and their prehistoric relatives' skulls being mistaken for a large, humanoid's skull.
• The deinotherium is featured in Man & Beast on Monster Mania 65.
• The mentioned theory that Deinotherium dug up roots with its tusks has since been disproven in favor of the scraping-bark one.