I though this was worth discussing but as elephants dont interest me (i know i am probably the only on on Zoobeat) you all can duscuss it! http://www.zoobeat.com/46/2008-01-19-dwarf-variety-elephants-12891/#post34703
This is most likely another fallacy- rather like the giant bull elephants in Nepal that were thought to be some sort of relict mammoths, but weren't.....
For very many years now there's been rumour of a third 'species' of African elephant- the so-called 'Pygmy elephant'- that lives deep in the forests of the Congo- adults supposedly only grow to about 6ft at the shoulder. But there's still no scientific evidence to support it at all- its highly likely the elephants concerned are merely babies and young examples of the 'cyclotis'(forest) subspecies.
I've seen somethibg similar, but I don't remember the source. The author suggested that the so called African pygmy elephants were unusually small forest elephnats, rather like meeting tall people and then short people and making the conclusion they were seperate species. Wasn't Noack's description of Loxodonta africana pumilio based on a young forest elephant?
I think so.. I've seen photos of a supposed dwarf elephant(with tusks so it wasn't a baby or very young animal) taken in a forest clearing with egrets in the picture for size comparison. However, it looks like a photo of a smallish forest elephant taken at such an angle that the relative distance between the egret birds and the elephant looks much smaller than it really is. I don't believe in 'dwarf' elephants(or fairies...)
There are various "mysterious" pygmy elephants reported in Africa as well as in Asia. In Asia: -the Borneo Elephant, actually not a true "pygmy" in terms of size; an accepted subspecies of the Asian elephant PLoS Biology - DNA Analysis Indicates That Asian Elephants Are Native to Borneo and Are Therefore a High Priority for Conservation -the mysterious Kalla(a)na mentioned above In Africa: -the water elephant, "Loxodonta fransseni", another cryptid and maybe identical to = -the African Pygmy Elephant There have been several theories proposed what the African Pygmy Elephant could be: -a new species ("Loxodonta pumilo") -a subspecies/variant of the African Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis "pumilo") -undernourished, orphaned African Forest Elephants A few possible "African Pygmy Elephant" specimen, f.e. "Congo" in Hamburg & NYC in the early 20th century, have been displayed in zoos, but so far there has been no generally accpeted conclusion what these animals really represent. So far, the last option is widely accepted. Status of the so-called African pygmy elephant (Lo...[C R Biol. 2003] - PubMed Result Pygmy Elephant What I would be careful about is mingling reports of hitherto unknown larger animals with stories about fairytale figures. I already mentioned the Cuvier's Rash Dictum in a chat with patrick; one should keep this in mind before abnegating the existence of yet unknown animal species. This doesn't mean that "I want to believe" or a absence of healthy scepticism is correct-on the contrary! However, one has to at least shortly evaluate the case before dismissing it.
Oh, it's just not the saola; the recent years have been full of "surprises" in terms of new animals discovered since 1992, like the Australian Snubfin Dolphin, the Kipunji or the Giant Spitting Cobra to name just a few. Category:Lists of animals described in the 21st century - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
