Triops Longicaudatus
Triops Longicaudatus Red
Triops Longicaudatus
Triops Longicaudatus Red
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Palaeontology: How the European forest elephants would fare here today
More than 100,000 years ago, game meat was at the top of the European Neanderthals’ diet. In addition to red deer, wild boar, horses and bison, their prey also included imposing large animals – including gigantic elephants. Archaeological finds prove that Neanderthals even hunted these colossal animals in coordinated groups.
Habitats for numerous other species
One particularly impressive species was the forest elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus), which roamed Europe until around 33,000 years ago. With a shoulder height of up to four metres and a weight of over ten tonnes, it was even larger than the African elephant – and even surpassed the woolly mammoth. This makes it one of the largest known proboscideans in the history of the earth. Over a period of around 700,000 years, it shaped the European landscape before it became extinct at the end of the last ice age. Some dwarf representatives of its genus probably survived until the Neolithic period on Mediterranean islands.
Elephants are not only impressive animals – they are also known as ‘ecosystem engineers’. Their mere presence changes the environment: they remove bushes, cut down smaller trees and dig waterholes. In doing so, they create habitats for numerous other species. The work of a research team led by Manuel Steinbauer shows that the European forest elephant has also helped to shape the landscape in this way.
The study suggests that these powerful animals contributed significantly to the preservation of open to semi-open habitats in Europe – a process that benefited many plant species that still exist today. The forest elephant defied several cold periods. It probably only disappeared during the last ice age, partly due to increasing hunting by humans.
To reconstruct the original living environment of these extinct species, Steinbauer and lead author Franka Gaiser searched palaeontological databases and specialist literature. The sites were assigned to specific climatic periods in the Earth’s history, the so-called Marine Isotope Stages (MIS). These stages document climatic changes – such as warm and cold periods – via oxygen isotopes.
Extinction had far-reaching ecological consequences
In conjunction with climate models of the time, the scientists were able to determine the ‘realised niche’ of the forest elephant – in other words, the actual environmental conditions under which the animals lived. Surprisingly, these conditions are similar to today’s climate in large parts of Europe, especially in Western and Central Europe. Only high mountain regions such as the Alps or the Caucasus probably did not provide a suitable habitat.
According to the researchers, the results published in the journal Frontiers of Biogeography illustrate the extent to which the absence of large herbivores can unbalance today’s ecosystems. Many species that depend on open landscapes – such as certain meadow plants or insects – once evolved under the influence of such megafauna. Their extinction had far-reaching ecological consequences.
‘In the past, large herbivores such as the forest elephant and their impact – for example through feeding pressure – were an integral part of the environment,’ explains Gaiser. ‘Many plant species that favour open terrain were probably able to survive in Europe because they benefited from these animal influences.’
The conventional strategy in nature conservation of preserving areas that are as unspoilt as possible is reaching its limits here. Without the original ecological processes – such as large herbivores – even protected areas can lose their balance.
For this reason, some nature conservation projects are specifically focussing on the reintroduction of large grazing animals, such as bison or Przewalski’s horses. Such initiatives aim to restore natural dynamics and enable stable, self-regulating ecosystems in the long term.
