Changes

Lack of organic remains other than skeletons have left researchers to speculate on the animal's overall appearance and lifestyle.  The partial almost horizontal position of the intermaxal bone on the upper side of the skull caused the questioning of the length of the trunk; it was speculated that in ''Deinotherium'' it did not reach the length of elephants of today, and was more of a tube than a trunk.  For this reason, some researchers reconstruct a rather [[tapir]]-like short trunk.  Since, however, late representatives of ''Deinotherium'' were very large and possessed a long but comparatively short neck, the trunk must have been so long that the animals could reach much-needed drinking water when the head was lowered.  Furthermore, due to the structure of the lower jaw, it is speculated that ''Deinotherium'' had a particularly pronounced lower lip.  

Lack of organic remains other than skeletons have left researchers to speculate on the animal's overall appearance and lifestyle.  The partial almost horizontal position of the intermaxal bone on the upper side of the skull caused the questioning of the length of the trunk; it was speculated that in ''Deinotherium'' it did not reach the length of elephants of today, and was more of a tube than a trunk.  For this reason, some researchers reconstruct a rather [[tapir]]-like short trunk.  Since, however, late representatives of ''Deinotherium'' were very large and possessed a long but comparatively short neck, the trunk must have been so long that the animals could reach much-needed drinking water when the head was lowered.  Furthermore, due to the structure of the lower jaw, it is speculated that ''Deinotherium'' had a particularly pronounced lower lip.  

Both the physique, especially the long, slender legs and the more mobile head, as well as the dentition, characterize ''Deinotherium'' as inhabitants of forests and floodplains.  Particularly the low crown height of the molar teeth and their construction from pointed grate-like crossbars with clearly sunken valleys in between are typical for animals which prefer soft plant nutrition<ref>http://eco.ibcas.ac.cn/group/lingh/siep/pdf/StaleIsotopesyueduwenxian/Cerlingetal1999(364-374).pdf</ref>.   Leaves, branches and bark were thus available as food sources, and that it was a browser for this food material has been confirmed by isotope investigations on the molar teeth<ref>https://hal.inria.fr/hal-00865276/document</ref>. ''Deinotherium'' may also have lived in open, grassy areas due to climatic cooling, which would also explain their enormous size.

Both the physique, especially the long, slender legs and the more mobile head, as well as the dentition, characterize ''Deinotherium'' as inhabitants of forests and floodplains.  Particularly the low crown height of the molar teeth and their construction from pointed grate-like crossbars with clearly sunken valleys in between are typical for animals which prefer soft plant nutrition.<ref>http://eco.ibcas.ac.cn/group/lingh/siep/pdf/StaleIsotopesyueduwenxian/Cerlingetal1999(364-374).pdf</ref>  Leaves, branches and bark were thus available as food sources, and that it was a browser for this food material has been confirmed by isotope investigations on the molar teeth.<ref>https://hal.inria.fr/hal-00865276/document</ref>  ''Deinotherium'' may also have lived in open, grassy areas due to climatic cooling, which would also explain their enormous size.

For a long time the function of the tusks was discussed, with a semi-aquatic way of life originally assumed, the tusks serving as digging tools in swampy forests.  This was discarded due to the fact that ''Deinotherium'' would have to kneel to bring its chin low enough for the tusks to engage in digging.  As leaf-eaters, they preferred bushes and tree tops as food sources, with branches pulled down with the tusks and broken off.

For a long time the function of the tusks was discussed, with a semi-aquatic way of life originally assumed, the tusks serving as digging tools in swampy forests.  This was discarded due to the fact that ''Deinotherium'' would have to kneel to bring its chin low enough for the tusks to engage in digging.  As leaf-eaters, they preferred bushes and tree tops as food sources, with branches pulled down with the tusks and broken off.

==References==

==References==

*Jeheskel Shoshani, Robert M. West, Nicholas Court, Robert J. G. Savage und John M. Harris: "The earliest proboscideans: general plan, taxonomy, and palaeoecology", In: Jeheskel Shoshani, and Pascal Tassy: ''The Proboscidea. Evolution and palaeoecology of the Elephants and their relatives''. Oxford, New York, Tokyo, 1996

*Jeheskel Shoshani, Robert M. West, Nicholas Court, Robert J. G. Savage und John M. Harris: "The earliest proboscideans: general plan, taxonomy, and palaeoecology", In: Jeheskel Shoshani, and Pascal Tassy: ''The Proboscidea. Evolution and palaeoecology of the Elephants and their relatives''. Oxford, New York, Tokyo, 1996