elephantid

And if an elephantid could swim four miles (from Pleistocene California to the northern Channel Islands) on purpose, it might well swim ten miles (from Pleistocene Flores to Timor) in some extraordinary, accidental situation.

The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

Emblematic of the welter is that Pleistocene elephantid on the northern Channel Islands, oxymoronic in itself: Mammuthus exilis, the dwarf mammoth.

The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

And if an elephantid could swim four miles (from Pleistocene California to the northern Channel Islands) on purpose, it might well swim ten miles (from Pleistocene Flores to Timor) in some extraordinary, accidental situation.

The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

Emblematic of the welter is that Pleistocene elephantid on the northern Channel Islands, oxymoronic in itself: Mammuthus exilis, the dwarf mammoth.

The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

They have yielded elephantid fossils of two different species within the genus Stegodon, and the presence of both stegodonts on both islands has encouraged experts to assume that the two islands were formerly linked by a land bridge.

The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

They have yielded elephantid fossils of two different species within the genus Stegodon, and the presence of both stegodonts on both islands has encouraged experts to assume that the two islands were formerly linked by a land bridge.

The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

The fossil evidence shows that elephantid species once occupied the Mediterranean islands of Malta, Sardinia, Sicily, Crete, Cyprus, Rhodes, and Delos; the Indonesian islands of Sulawesi, Timor, and Flores; the Philippine islands of Mindanao and Luzon; and a few smaller islands elsewhere in the world.

The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

The fossil evidence shows that elephantid species once occupied the Mediterranean islands of Malta, Sardinia, Sicily, Crete, Cyprus, Rhodes, and Delos; the Indonesian islands of Sulawesi, Timor, and Flores; the Philippine islands of Mindanao and Luzon; and a few smaller islands elsewhere in the world.

The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

Diamond’s supporting data were paleontological and circumstantial: (1) the fossil remains of the two elephantid species from Pleistocene strata on the island of Flores; (2) the fact that komodos presently occur on Flores as well as Komodo itself; and (3) the absence of fossil remains from any alternative candidates for the role of prey.

The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

Diamond’s supporting data were paleontological and circumstantial: (1) the fossil remains of the two elephantid species from Pleistocene strata on the island of Flores; (2) the fact that komodos presently occur on Flores as well as Komodo itself; and (3) the absence of fossil remains from any alternative candidates for the role of prey.

The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004