Earliest elephant

Elephants belong to the taxonomic order Proboscidea, and the earliest known member of this order is Eritherium azzouzorum. Based upon jaw and skull fragments, the first recorded specimen of this species was found in Morocco, and formally described and named in 2009. It lived around 60 million years ago during the Palaeocene epoch. The first specimen was disinterred in the Sidi Chennane quarry in Morocco's Ouled Abdoun phosphate basin, and its remains are now housed in the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle Guimet in Lyon, France. Its generic name, Eritherium, is Greek for 'old animal'.