The ancient Asian elephant of Turkey in the light of new specimens: Does it have regional features?

Abstract

Although today the Asian elephant, Elephas maximus, exists in a number of fragmented and isolated populations in south and southeast Asia, its historical range was extended westwards as far as Iraq. Because E. maximus is rarely preserved in fossil form and the remains from these peripheral ancient populations are scant, not much is known about their relationship to modern Asian elephant. The elephants in Tigris-Euphrates region, sometimes referred to as E. maximus asurus, had died out during the first half of the first millennium BCE. Some researchers have supported the idea that a living Asian elephant population inhabited the Euphrates-Tigris region in the late Holocene. The remains of ancient Asian elephant from the southeastern part of Turkey are known from several studies, and Gavur Lake Swamp (southeast Turkey) in particular is the only natural locality that yielded both dental and postcranial remains in southwest Asia. In this study new specimens including mandibles, isolated teeth, scapula, humeri and vertebras from Gavur Lake Swamp were studied. Moreover, the wear patterns of lower molars are examined in detail as they have an ambiguous pattern, which is mostly associated with Palaeoloxodon antiquus and is not very common in recent Asian elephant. Comparisons with the recent Asian elephant teeth may point out that the extinct westernmost population of Asian elephant in Gavur Lake Swamp might have local or regional features in wear pattern in the lower molars.