Dwarf elephant

Palaeoloxodon falconeri was an extinct miniature elephant that lived on Mediterranean islands during the Pleistocene. Its small size evolved from island-dwelling ancestors.

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Insular dwarfism: The evolutionary reduction in body size that occurs in some large animals isolated on islands. This process explains how island-dwelling elephant ancestors could evolve into a miniature species.
Sicily: The largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, separated from mainland Italy by the Strait of Messina. Fossils of Palaeoloxodon falconeri are known from Sicilian deposits.
Palaeoloxodon mnaidriensis: An extinct, medium-sized straight-tusked elephant that lived on Pleistocene Sicily. Its larger body size distinguishes another Sicilian island form from P. falconeri.
Quaternary extinction event: The widespread loss of large animals during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. The dwarf elephant disappeared amid broader losses of large-bodied island mammals.
Island rule: The tendency for large animals to become smaller and small animals larger on islands. The dwarf elephant exemplifies the rule’s prediction for large mammals.
Malta: A Mediterranean archipelago south of Sicily, with fossil-bearing Pleistocene deposits. Its caves preserve evidence of dwarf elephants and other extinct island mammals.
Palaeoloxodon cypriotes: An extinct dwarf elephant that lived on Cyprus during the Pleistocene. It is a separate island elephant, illustrating that dwarfing occurred beyond Sicily and Malta.
Pleistocene megafauna: The large animals that lived during the Pleistocene, many of which later became extinct. The dwarf elephant was an unusually small member of a world dominated by large mammals.
Palaeoloxodon antiquus: An extinct straight-tusked elephant that ranged across Europe and western Asia during the Pleistocene. This mainland relative is a likely ancestor of the dwarf elephant.
Palaeoloxodon: An extinct genus of elephants that included straight-tusked species across Eurasia and Africa. The dwarf elephant’s genus places it within a wider radiation of extinct elephants.