Research on the only skeleton of a calf of straight-tusked elephant in Europe

Palaeoloxodon antiquus. Author: Almudena Yagüe. UB researchers Montserrat Sanz and Joan Daura have studied the only remains of a calf in Europe, a species known as the straight-tusked elephant: Palaeoloxodon antiquus . The study has been carried out jointly with Maria Rita Palombo, of the Sapienza University of Rome and researcher at the Institute of Environmental Geology and Geoengineering of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR). This is a 5-year old specimen that weighed 1500 kg, and lived 120,000 years ago. Its remains were found in Cueva del Rinoceronte (Castelldefels), a site with abundant remains of species from the latest warm or interglacial moment, such as the case of the straight-tusked elephant, which disappeared with the arrival of the last glacial period. Although there are some remains of adult Palaeoloxon antiquus in Europe, remains of calves are scarce and correspond to isolated bones, so those in Cueva del Rinoceronte are the only complete skeleton found to date.