Day 235#: Eubelodon morrilli
Today's animal of the day is Eubelodon morrilli!
Image credit: Mark Marcuson
This extinct species of proboscidean lived in what is now the Great Plains region of the United States during the Miocene epoch and was a member of the gomphothere family. However, while most gomphotheres had four tusks, two upper tusks and two lower ones, Eubelodon and its close relatives, Gnathabelodon and Choerolophodon, actually lost their lower tusks and only had the two upper tusks. Like modern elephants, these tusks were actually very specialized teeth and were likely used for foraging by stripping the bark from trees and breaking off branches, as well as for combat. In addition to these tusks, Eubelodon would have likely had a long trunk, like modern elephants, and would have used it to reach food that would have been otherwise out of its reach.
Photo credit: James St. John
Their name means "true arrow tooth" since their teeth were kind of pointed and somewhat resemble arrowheads. This type of tooth is better suited for "shearing" through tough vegetation since gomphotheres were browsers, while mammoths were primarily grazers that had flat teeth for grinding up grass. I couldn't find a lot of specifics about this particular species of gomphothere, probably because, like many other prehistoric species, it has a complicated history of being considered valid, then invalid, then valid again. It was first described in 1914, but just four years later, in 1918, it would be considered invalid, and its fossils were reclassified as belonging to Trilophodon. However, Trilophodon is also an invalid genus, and so the fossils would be reclassified again in 1973, but to Gomphotherium this time. I think 1997 is when Eubelodon was finally considered to be valid again, but all the sources I found on it were weirdly worded, so sorry if that's wrong.
