Gomphotherium
Gomphotherium (; "welded beast") is an extinct genus of proboscids from the Neogene and early Pleistocene of Eurasia, Africa, North America and possibly also Asia. Description. "G. productum" is known from a 35-year-old male tall weighing . Even larger is "G. steinheimense", known from a complete 37-year-old male found in Mühldorf, Germany, which is tall and weighed . It had four tusks, two on the upper jaw and two on the elongated lower jaw. The lower tusks are parallel and shaped like a shovel and were probably used for digging up food from mud. Unlike modern elephants, the  upper tusks were covered by a layer of enamel. Compared to elephants, the skull was more elongated and low, indicating that the animal had a short trunk, rather like a tapir's. These animals probably lived in swamps or near lakes, using their tusks to dig or scrape up aquatic vegetation. In comparison to earlier proboscids, "Gomphotherium" had far fewer molars; the remaining ones had high ridges to expand their grinding surfaces. "Gomphotherium" spp. inhabited dry wooded regions near lakes. Taxonomy. The following cladogram shows the placement of the genus "Gomphotherium" among other proboscideans, based on hyoid characteristics: