Shelly x Dyle !

"THE LINEAGE OF ELEPHANTS TRACES BACK SOME 55 MILLION YEARS..."

PIC INFO: Spotlight on a prehistoric elephant piece titled "The "Micro"-Evolution of Elephants," undated, depicting the evolution of our planet's proboscideans over the course of over 50 million years. Artist unknown.

"The lineage of elephants traces back some 55 million years. Ancestors gave rise to various branches as well as to the direct line leading to living elephants. Early proboscideans originated in Africa and southwest Asia and migrated via land bridge to every continent except Antarctica and Australia.

Changes in climate and food supply -- and perhaps overhunting in the Pleistocene -- caused widespread extinctions, leaving modern elephants as then only survivors."

-- "THE "MICRO"-EVOLUTION OF ELEPHANTS"

The proboscideans featured here are: Moeritherium, Deinotherium, Palaeomastodon, Mammut, Gomphotherium, Stegodon, Primelephas, Mammuthus, Elephas (Asian elephant), and Loxodonta (African elephant).

For most of the day, Una was left under guard in Tahaar’s hut, her rage had long since puttered out. She couldn’t remember when she had last eaten and her stomach went to great lengths to remind her even as her body rebelled in a wave of lethargy and shakiness.

When Orgg gave her the chance to relieve herself, Una was struck by the sudden emptiness of the camp. Tahti, Uleg and Ska were nowhere to be seen and neither was Tahaar or Bakka. “Where are others?” Una asked him, her tone in a panic.

“They not spirits.” He assured her in a tone that was surprisingly neutral. Una waited for him to explain, her eyebrow raising at him despite herself. Orgg grinned at her. “Fearless saber thinks she owns place.” He mocked. “Calm, woman, they not hurt. They home.”

“What?” Una questioned him, picturing them left to fend for themselves in the graveyard that once had been their camp. “Home?”

“We find things. Women.” He said, glancing around as if he was already worried he was telling her too much. “We give to others that have no things or… women. They give food and tools. All are happy.”

“Not all.” Una disagreed after a short pause, walking past him. Once she had been relieved, she was given chunks of meat and a few berries to eat by the camp’s fire. She found it a very lonely spot in the clearing, now, without the others there with her. What happened to them was unfair, but Una hoped that they were treated kindly and given a home much like their old one.