Proboscideans Proboscideans are the ancient ancestors to several groups of animals that are characterized by their long elephant-like trunks. Unlike the elephants that now roam the Earth, early proboscideans were only about as big as a pig or a cow, and they had no tusks. Stegadons Stegadons were one of the first known proboscideans. They lived during the Miocene period, which was between 23 million and five million years ago. These animals, for which little is known of their actual appearance, lived in Southeast Asia and Africa.
Experts believe that stegadons gave rise to the elephant family.
Their tusks were also about one metre shorter than the average mammoth's. They weighed in between 4 and 5 tonnes, again somewhat lighter than mammoths. Fossils also reveal that the earliest mastodons appeared between 20 million and 30 million years ago, significantly predating the mammoths who didn't show up until about 4 million years ago. Like its name suggests, it keeps within the boundaries of Africa and is well adapted to the savannas and warm grasslands of the continent. It began to evolve separately from the Asian elephant about 2 million years ago.