Elephas maximus, Asian Elephant skull

cults3d

The current geographic scope of the Asian elephant, Elephas maximus, encompasses Indochina, Malaysia, Indonesia, southern China, and the Indian subcontinent. Within this extensive range, the Asian elephant makes use of a wide variety of habitats that include dense jungles to open grassy plains. Although the present distribution of the Asian elephant is considerable, this species historically roamed from Iraq to northern China. The current retraction of geographic scope reflects diminishing population numbers. The Asian elephant is presently listed as endangered by CITES. Elephas maximus lateral view The Asian elephant, Elephas maximus, and the African elephant, Loxodontia africana are the only surviving elephant species from a once diverse group, the Proboscidea. The Asian elephant can be distinguished from the African form by its smaller size, smaller ears, convexly curved back, flattened forehead, and the presence of one instead of two lips on the distal end of the trunk. This specimen is a juvenile male skull that was made available to The University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray CT Facility for scanning by Dr. Timothy Rowe of The University of Texas at Austin, courtesy of the Texas Memorial Museum's Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory. Funding for scanning was provided by a National Science Foundation Digital Libraries Initiative grant to Dr. Rowe.