images

Moeritherium

by

Walter B.Myers/Novapix

Reference

t-din05-30204

Date

2014-01-28

Proboscideans of the genus Moeritherium wallow in a swamp 36 million years ago in what is today North Africa. Resembling modern tapirs or pygmy hippopotamuses, Moeritherium is in fact related to elephants. They stood only about 2.5 feet at the shoulder and were about 10 feet long. Dwelling in swamps and rivers and subsisting on soft vegetation, it is believed Moeritherium occupied an ecological niche subsequently filled by modern hippopotamuses.