An African elephant’s skeleton and muscles are projected onto a life-size model in an exhibit that highlights new science on proboscideans.
For millions of years, over a dozen species of proboscideans, the group that includes mammoths, mastodons, and elephants, roamed landscapes as varied as Arctic tundra and African savannas. Then, around 11,700 years ago, as the last ice age waned and human hunting picked up, this number dwindled to just three: the Asian elephant, the African forest elephant, and the African savanna elephant — all of which are now endangered.
Losing elephants comes with a far-reaching and underappreciated impact, warns “The Secret World of elephants” The exhibit, now on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, explores that impact, as well as what modern science is revealing about elephant minds and bodies.
As ecosystem engineers, modern elephants transform their environments. Because these herbivores are so big, they eat a lot, poop a lot and travel far to graze, dispersing mounds of viable seeds far and wide. The beasts also trample fields, making room for a diversity of plants, and dig enormous water holes that other animals use too.
