How The Elephant Got Its Trunk

[@complexly]

Did you know that you can get your very own prehistoric elephant figure? Find out how at complexly.info/mammoths

[@JeffreyGoddin]

The Natural History Museum was always my favorite gift shop in school, shout out to Cleveland, Ohio, and its industrial age philanthropists for Severance Hall, the Art Museum, the Botanical Garden and sure I'll count the Crawford Museum. And yes, I had a mammoth from that shop.

[@darcieclements4880]

We should just be glad that a few species did survive the existence of humans as a predator. I suppose that largely comes from them living in areas without giant cliffs for us to run them off of. You must really brutal and they were hunting megafauna.

[@trichogaster1183]

been on a streak of sending cute elephant videos back and forth with my mom, gonna throw her a curveball

[@Weretooth]

😂😂 Aw love that

[@chiddchid6364]

😂

[@rockhound4080]

Send us her reaction, lol

[@leoornstein3963]

Do it

[@erukaseven]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@TriloBite_Me]

"How X got it's Y" are my favorite video titles because you know it's going to be a comfy ride.

[@coreyrobinson8209]

At first, I thought you were talking about an XY chromosome origin video. 😁

[@SandalwoodBros]

*its

[@jasonlira2755]

You might enjoy rudyard Kipling ‘s Just So Stories

[@sanguillotine]

I like that the video starts with total silence for about two seconds with a still image of that freaky looking animal. I’m not being sarcastic, I genuinely enjoy that.

[@anotherdrummer2]

I enjoyed this truncated look at elephant evolution

[@guodzillakaiju5683]

Oh, that pun! Tusk, tusk, tusk!!!

[@WolfieMiyaku]

😂😂😂

[@brianjacob8728]

More examples of transitional forms.

[@cutielovely6080]

Those are some serious Hapsburg jaws...

[@FunkyWombat]

Underrated comment!

[@ni-dirus]

Shakurel(ephant)

[@jonasinsinga4309]

😂😂😂

[@likebot.]

Too soon!

[@HowardLogan-gv5kc]

So they also ruled over the Holy Roman Empire? 🤔

[@dangerfly]

Elephants are so familiar to the point of being mundane yet so weird at the same time.

[@Tekyng_of_Baregan]

We need to find someone who is completely unaware of the existence of basically every animal so that we can show them animals alive and extinct to see which ones are the weirdest. I often feel like we've lost all the coolest ones:(

[@awsome182]

Same for giraffes.

[@Vijaymhawar]

Also, why didnt they talk about the prehistoic elephant with its tusks in lower jaw pointing downwards? I think that one is equally if not more fascinating

[@Vijaymhawar]

What about the one with its tusks in the lower jaw pointing downwards what caused that to evolve?

[@forthrightgambitia1032]

Given their evolutionary history it now makes more sense the hyrax is their closest relative.

[@LimeyLassen]

The hyrax sure missed the bus on that one, didn't it?

[@norarivkis2513]

I thought the manatee was their closest relative, and the hyrax after that?

[@kathleenwoods8416]

@@norarivkis2513 Its actually an almost even split between the three according to genetic analysis, which implies a 3 way split between the families at about the same time. Which is pretty rare to confirm in extent species.

[@norarivkis2513]

@@kathleenwoods8416 That's really cool; thanks for telling me. I knew the hyrax was one of the elephant's nearest relatives, but not as much detail as you have.

[@vincentx2850]

@@LimeyLassen It's worth noting that like elephants, hyraxes is a shadow of themselves when it comes to diversity. Throughout a significant part of their evolution history, hyraxes are much more diverse and seems to always have a couple of large, sheep-sized and even cow-sized hyraxes. Among the latest of them, Postschizotherium, lived in Eurasia till the early Pleistocene and shared the landscape with mammoth, sabretooth and early humans.

[@kevinmorgan2968]

Given than we have now had an episode about giraffes having long necks because of grass not trees, and elephants having trunks for grass not trees, can we finally get an episode about how the rhino actually evolved its horn to climb trees not eat grass? Is that how this works?

[@elgatitodraven7501]

actually the long neck of giraffes ended up being about sex

[@dnapolren]

Humans are also a product of grasslands..

[@ancientswordrage]

Yes

[@AncientWildTV]

lol but their interactions with the ground and other rhinos, as well as their surroundings, have shaped their evolutionary adaptations more so than their activity in trees.

[@paleozoey]

there were tree-browsing rhinos in the past like paraceratherium, so you aren't far off; they were hornless, however.

[@rezank5859]

-Why the long face? - climate change.

[@johnbreen5668]

And not a SUV or coal fired power plant in site.

[@herecomesthescience]

​@@johnbreen5668Everything contributes to climate change; it's just a matter of how much.

[@AlleonoriCat]

@@johnbreen5668 climate is changing naturally, sure. But never at the near instant (in geological time) rate like it did after the industrial revolution

[@troyjardine5850]

​@@johnbreen5668: Nice oppinion, did Exon Mobile pay it for you? Or was it Dennis Prager and Ben Shappiro?

[@GrimJackal]

@@johnbreen5668 Name a single scientist that said climate change wasn't a thing before the Industrial Revolution.

[@MangaBottle]

Some of the extinct elephants make Dumbo's pink elephants look like just another Tuesday!

[@EmiStar070]

Omg, don't even mention that nightmare sequence 🫣

[@kitkatboard]

@@EmiStar070 I feel like the only kid who loved that sequence, because it was so funny looking and colorful 😭

[@EmiStar070]

@@kitkatboard I first saw it when I was like 2 and I found it terrifying

[@kitkatboard]

@@EmiStar070 I was like 1 or 2 but I think my brain wasn't developped enough to be scared 😂

[@AskMia411]

IT FINALLY HAPPENED!!! I'm so excited, I've been asking for this video for forever!!! I had no idea if anyone at Eons ever saw my comments, over a bunch of different videos, but it looks like they did! Thanks you all for the consistently amazing content, you feed my need for prehistoric knowledge!!! ❤❤❤

[@justin880]

Today is about you. Congrats!

[@chiddchid6364]

🎉🎉🎉 congrats stranger

[@GSBarlev]

@@justin880 The bulk of this episode was set during the *Miacene,* after all.

[@ThatWinterRider]

You're welcome.

[@AskMia411]

@@GSBarlev OMG that's hilarious, thank you!!!!

[@BruceWaynesaysLandBack]

1:27 thank you for the audio production quality. PBS eons videos are basically short documentaries and I love it!

[@veggieboyultimate]

PBS Eons should really do more evolution of modern animals and organisms

[@ancientswordrage]

Aren't they called eons cos it's about things from eons ago?

[@dudewrapsupreme]

@@ancientswordrage we're currently living through an eon ourselves so i can't see a difference

[@noahberan6498]

I wanna know why parrots became a thing

[@antonsimmons8519]

I was just at work a few hours ago, thinking about this exact evolutionary question. "How/why did elephants evolve that awesome trunk?" Immediate smile to my face upon seeing the subject of the video. Neat stuff. Lots to absorb. Thanks.

[@radioraffa]

Like the purple mammoth skull earrings 😁

[@GSBarlev]

With all of the Proboscidian recreations I've seen¹, I'm not sure why it never clicked for me before that elephant trunks didn't _grow_ as much as lower jaws _shrunk_ compared to its direct ancestors. *Mind. Blown.* ¹Shout-out for my shovel-faced son _Platybeladon_ at 4:13

[@StonedtotheBones13]

Idk why I've not thought of this before, but my brain was like "well ofc they got trunks now, the poor thing can't eat through its 2 sets of tusks" this time.

[@caseyleichter2309]

"Holy Hannibal! Where'd you get that mandible?" Platybeladon is my fave proto-elephant. That earth-mover lower jaw (yeah, I know: grass-cutter not earth-mover) left me gobsmacked the first time I saw it. Thank you for giving them some Eons love!

[@OrdonWolf]

Finally, Platybelodon in an Eons video. Praise the Scööp!!

[@wikyWargaming]

"With great trunk comes great responsibility." -Uncle Babar

[@joehopfield]

Modern african elephants are born with 6 sets of teeth to deal with their abrasive diet... I wonder when that trait evolved relative to long faces and trunks.

[@frankibianchi6188]

In 7 days

[@jv_likes_plants]

Yess! We love you PBS Eons

[@Tzeise]

The tusk earrings were a fire touch!

[@aaronlaluzerne6639]

Now there should be a sequel video on why elephants evolved so many different and bizzare teeth and tusks.

[@NKULTRA94]

I can usually wrap my head around most artistic recreations of extinct animals, but anytime I see a picture of Platybeladon, there is a part of my brain that feels like it is actively rejecting what I'm seeing. It's like looking at a lovecraftian horror. My mind just fails to make sense of its anatomy.

[@KingDayDayDay00]

I mean, look up a Hippo's and penguins skeleton. If those animals were ancient and extinct, do you think we'd be able to accurately draw them today?

[@NKULTRA94]

@@KingDayDayDay00 Probably not. xD

[@TheBeetrootman]

Nice I was on a wikipedia binge about proboscideans yesterday

[@Weretooth]

Omg 2.99 million subs!!! Let’s hope this video gets you to the milestone!! Congratulations 🎊 💚

[@karenroot450]

Yeah. Elephants!! Wow this was told so well. Great pictures and fabulous rendition of early species. Beautiful presenter also. Love your style!! Love this channel! Thanks so much! Elephants have always been one of my favorite animals!

[@hadrianopolis1968]

Thank you Michelle for this excellent presentation ♥

[@xwiick]

Thanks for all the hard work on these videos!

[@nicksummers5101]

michelle really improved so much compare to their debut video (hey the first one wasnt bad to begin w)! but look at them now, you could really see theyre so comfy and in their own element. keep up the awesome work! love the episode! episodes like this tend to keep my imagination up (how their ancestors lived, possible reasons of triggering evolution etc). thanks a mil to the research and writing team!

[@akirakiel6142]

Paleontology always reminds me how precious the existence of other beings living with us today is. Elephants are sublime animals, one of the last giants on earth, and I am grateful that I am living in a world with them. I hope that many generations after me will be able to see them too...

[@Hannah_Em]

honestly obsessed with the mammoth picture at 0:50 which has appeared in a few videos; why does it appear to be a poseable action figure?

[@karonuva]

Because it is, I believe they worked with or helped fund the people who made it. They've talked about it in previous videos

[@Hannah_Em]

@@karonuva Oh that's really cool, I forgot about that!

[@BaltanTwo]

It’s not made YET, it’s a crowdfund currently running on BackerKitx

[@mistymarshall5438]

Because they're working on a prehistoric elephant figure toy line with Creative Beast Studio. They've just released some Mammoth figures and they might do Platybelodon next. They're even asking for backers. I think there's a link in the "posts" section of the channel.

[@Oltoir]

What a fun ride that was! Thanks for all the hard work you all do to continue this free education 🎉

[@Sticks017]

I love how frequently you guys have been putting out videos lately. They are great! The more the better!

[@monteagudoabeezekieljardie7884]

Thank you PBS Eons. I love this video. I love elephants. They are my favorite animal. Thank you so much.

[@TheAnimalKingdom-tq3sz]

"How do Elephants get their trunks?" Bitten by crocodiles, of course. With the help of giant pythons coiling their hindlimbs!

[@AdamYJ]

Is that from Just So Stories byKipling?

[@dadefrost2059]

​@@AdamYJeither that or Aesop's fables

[@ronjaj.addams-ramstedt1023]

​@@AdamYJ at least Kipling published a story like that - there may be older versions, too

[@kaesees]

@@AdamYJ Yes, specifically the chapter "The Elephant's Child" :) Nb. the just-so type stories are in both "Just So Stories" proper and "The Second Jungle Book".

[@astina7574]

They go to the store and buy them.

[@TwinightCord]

Proboscideans are some of my favorite fossils to study! This is awesome!

[@katarzynaskoropada-bartkow7670]

I've been waiting for this episode for a long time, thank you!

[@Atlas-pn6jv]

Last time I was this early it was the Hadean

[@worfoz]

Nobody remembers that anymore.

[@caldius1]

You guys really need to do an episode on the rise of grasses.

[@anasevi9456]

Thank you for another lovely minidoco! I always wondered why Elephant had such wild wild looking ancestors given they came from such humble beginnings.

[@davidt3563]

Hehe the elongated face ones are cute AF. I want one.

[@CelibateCetologist]

7:46 You can see examples of this when the Okavango Delta floods. Elephants wade through the water and rip up any plants they can get their trunks on. It’s pretty cool.

[@RavinRay]

Ooh, the very first genus depicted, the lower-tusk only, forest-dwelling _Deinotherium_ wasn't discussed. A missed opportunity! 10:50 Three species? That's right, the African elephant _Loxodonta africana_ is now divided into two species: the African bush elephant _L. africana_ and the African forest elephant _L. cyclotis_ which is smaller.

[@FluidKaos]

Thanks! I was confused when she said three. I thought Asian and African were the only species. Learned something new! Thank you stranger! 😀

[@noahberan6498]

Pigmy elephants too right?

[@matthewanipen2418]

This was a great video thank you! I think another thing left out about the trunk is that it can literally suck up water and then pour it into the elephant's mouth. When you think of giant animals whose heads are so far from the ground like giraffes and the like, being able to have the water come to your mouth would be amazing and maybe life saving. Who knows what amazing things extinct animals used their relatively unusual extremities for!

[@jenkcomedy]

The Shovel Trunkers is going to be the name of my new Punk Band

[@cadenbelcher3105]

Sweet love eons

[@DeinosDinos]

I'd like to imagine the concept of a feeding canopy also helped. An elephant could just stand and pluck grass, instead of having to move around constantly for every mouthful.

[@jso6790]

Loved seeing the pics from the Backerkit.. I am excited to get mine. Also, great job with video, as always.

[@korbell1089]

10:40 I think this picture is funny...a group of apex predators versus an elephant who says, "I go where I want!"😂😉

[@juliusapriadi]

themed earpieces are tight! Thanks for the great video.

[@gmeng811]

Love you guys

[@itchywitch5923]

I am always SO JEALOUS of her earrings. She’s so pretty and has great style. Geologist nerdy goals!!

[@calliss510]

0:57 This guy poppin in from the side nearly had me spitting my drink.

[@TragoudistrosMPH]

It's humbling to see how diverse they were to how few there are now...

[@JJ-oq3tz]

Elephants came a long way since the since the beginning of the their early appearance!!! I want to know about the hippos involved over the past 100,000 years!!

[@taqyon]

Love you guys ❤

[@takenname8053]

Elephant version of "Let me do it for you" meme

[@EryxUK]

Fascinating. Thanks for another great video.

[@madbrowndog4887]

"The lower jaw just kept getting longer, and even more dramatic." Ah, yes, that would be the Habsburgompotherium".

[@carmogoncalvesleal2254]

😂

[@gertballyhead]

Looking great!!

[@DeinoWolfhybridhero]

Beautiful video! These ancient cousins of elephant are often underrated and is talking ever too little about them (also in some paleontologist texts). I hope in a future video dedicated entirely to one of my favorite :Deinotherium

[@jakegarvin7634]

Proboscidians: From long jaws to long schnoz

[@paularanya8726]

Always wondered about these. Nice

[@olorin4317]

Perhaps they used them to dig up and loosen roots and tubers. While grabbing the foliage from above with the trunk.

[@blooky102]

This is an awesome colab ^^

[@frothywalrus]

the hair style 11/10

[@AbhishekKumar-zq8nb]

A little description about how the modern 3 species of elephants originate and at what point, could have been interesting. I always thought Indian elephants originate when the indian subcontinent divided from Africa, therefore giving rise to shorter elephants due to island dwarfism. But now I am not sure if this is true.

[@SuperEvilCake]

11:20 too cute 🥰

[@bruced.1472]

Q : How can you tell if a Gomphothere has been in the refridgerator? A : Ichnites in the jello!

[@jaredquinney204]

What a bunch of interesting trunks

[@daphneloose5880]

now we need to protect the elephants we have left on earth. that means NO MORE POACHING for their tusks!!

[@Whomobile]

I'm never unseeing the Trunk as a weird elongated upper lip now

[@anandmg]

We have weekly video drops! So excited!!!

[@laurachapple6795]

I always look forward to the pun at the end of these.

[@BZAKether]

I love Michelle's earrings.

[@paulbudford]

Great video.👍

[@keith3761]

Having a trunk to reach down to eat also keeps your head high so you can look around and spot predators trying to eat you and your young easier.

[@kjpcgaming9296]

I love PBS Eons

[@micahbush5397]

Now what I wonder: Will convergent evolution one day lead tapirs developing long trunks?

[@sanguillotine]

If there’s an open niche and we don’t kill them off directly or indirectly, then my guess is yeah

[@22vx]

Congrats on 3M subs

[@martinryan2370]

I thought the title was Why the elephant got drunk 😂 You would if you. Had them big ears 😂😂😂😂

[@awbromero]

I really hope we make the higher tiers of the backerkit. I’m a huge fan of David Silva and Eons!!!

[@moratiwawaka]

No, it was because of their insatiable curiosity!

[@crapsound]

The transitional periods seem terrifying.

[@Zaxares]

Life on earth seems to be a never-ending series of "Life was wonderful! ... Until things changed." Our own unique evolutionary adaptation, our intelligence and big brains, gives us a great advantage in that we can simply make tools to compensate for a changing world, but I have to wonder if something far bigger than even our tool-making can surpass awaits us in the future, and our days too are numbered. :/

[@LimeyLassen]

It would probably feel normal if you were living in it. People don't exactly open the window and say "huh feels colder than it was 10,000 years ago".

[@kaseywashington-y2k]

Platybelodon is simply hilarious 😂😂😂😂

[@MarkCMG]

Thanks for the video! I guess you never know what you'll get with early proboscideans. Still were the gomphotheres mainly on the plains or were there Forest Gomps?

[@StonedtotheBones13]

Platybelodon is one of my fave prehistoric weirdos 😊

[@ChrissieBear]

Deinotherium is my favorite proboscidean. That chin is crazy.

[@SomeoneCommenting]

When you become so large it's quite convenient to have your own picking long hose so that you don't need to be lowering that extremely heavy body all day long trying to eat the grass on the ground to save a lot of energy.

[@danieloneal7137]

I know those species did alright for themselves for many, many years. But damn, those weird long jaws seem so impractical and unwieldy. I can’t quite even imagine what they’d look like in action.

[@Zueilen]

Isn't it curious that these guys had the same migration pattern as early humans? Well just so much earlier..

[@TheGiggleMasterP]

That thunbnail is my new fear unlocked 😅

[@sanguillotine]

0:23 what’s going on with this guy’s hooves? It’s like he’s fading away.

[@sike2567]

probably it's ai generated

[@sanguillotine]

@@sike2567 I hope not

[@xaerache]

The grasses in the background don’t match up :/

[@xaerache]

After much research I can confirm that they linked the original artwork of this in the references doc. It appears that some blur effect has been accidentally done on the top and bottom of the picture. Probably just some editing mistake.

[@archerelms]

A lot of these images seem to be edited in a way similar to "portrait mode" on most phones these days, where the animal is in focus and everything else is blurred, and it happened to blur the feet too. Google Lens found me the original image so I can agree it doesn't appear to be AI art and it didn't originally look like that

[@TheSaneHatter]

A “Just So Story” from PBS Eons.

[@primrosevale1995]

Would’ve been funny if the African Forest Elephant just happened to re-evolve those shovel tusks.

[@TalesofKaimere]

Great work as always! Where does the mastodon, a browsing specialist with parallel evolution of short jaws, fit into this? The idea makes a lot of sense for grazing lineages but from what I understand mastodon and its ancestors never even dabbled in grass based on coprolite studies, tooth wear, and stomach contents. What were they up to? We may simply not yet know but such a reasonable explanation for the trend in the mammoth and elephant lineage begs the question for mastodon (and I think Stegodon independently followed the trend too)

[@ryanchen1819]

My guess is that they shortened the lengths of their lower jaws so they can have an easier time eating low lying leafing plants.

[@katiekorell9776]

I think the elephants lineage is one of the coolest in evolution. They had some insane looking ancestors!

[@michaelnewton6789]

I feel like shovel tuskers are frequently drawn wrong. When you look at the skull of platybelodon for example, the tusks are much closer together than in most reconstructions, leave little to no room for a modern style elephant trunk. I feel like it probably looked more like a prehensile upper lip, I think it's unlikely the tusks were permanently exposed like in later proboscidians.