Sangiran Elephant

Mastodon was the most primitive of all Sangiran elephants. With a slightly different physical appearance from the present elephant, Mastodon had tusks on the upper jaw and 2 relatively small tusks on the lower jaw. Mastodons were herbivores –they consumed leaves and sprouts - were able to wander vast forests. Stegodon lived and spread in Asia during the Pliocene and Pleistocene periods. Unlike the Mastodon, Stegodon only had two tusks on its upper jaw. Stegodon was a giant with four-metre tusks. This species bred well in rainforests, the environment found on Kabuh Formation in Sangiran around 700,000 to 300,000 years ago. When Sangiran turned into an open environment, such species became extinct. Elephas, the modern elephant, had smaller and straighter tusks used for crashing down trees to get to the edible stems and roots. The Elephas had high crowned molar, suitable for masticating solid food like dry grass and seeds.