The fossils of the Nefud Desert are tied to ancient lakes formed in humid interglacial periods of the middle and late Pleistocene, and their fauna is mostly African in affinity; the region was greener when this elephant lived.
Loading…
The fossils of the Nefud Desert are tied to ancient lakes formed in humid interglacial periods of the middle and late Pleistocene, and their fauna is mostly African in affinity; the region was greener when this elephant lived.
Carbon isotope values suggest that Palaeoloxodon recki recki exploited a range of habitats, although it showed a clear preference for habitats dominated by C4 vegetation, probably grasslands.
Approved version OWNER-REVIEW-20261022T140614109 · last approved 22 October 2026
The Palaeoloxodon recki lineage (also known as Elephas recki) was the most prominent among the lineages of the order Proboscidea in Africa during the Pliocene and Pleistocene.
The ancestral species Palaeoloxodon recki left Africa and reached the Near East about 780,000 years ago, and the genus is recorded in Eurasia from about 750,000 years ago.
Sources
Ti's al Ghadah held a mix of African, Eurasian and probably endemic animals, including wild ass, oryx and a spotted-hyena relative, plus the first Pleistocene bird records from Arabia, such as ostrich.
Oxygen isotopes in the tooth enamel of Palaeoloxodon from the Afar Rift indicate an initial reliance on stable water sources, followed later by an expansion that included temporary sources.
Three teeth of Palaeoloxodon cf. recki recki, recovered from Late Acheulean deposits at Megenta and serially sampled, showed little seasonal variation in carbon or oxygen isotope values, even during a period of unusually high regional climatic instability.