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Description
Mammuthus subplanifrons

Africa. It's the cradle of humankind, but even more than that, it's also the cradle for some of the most iconic megafaunal mammals, the Elephantoidea, the modern Elephants. As the Miocene ended, many Gompotheres, Ambelodonts and the Deinotheres dwindled and eventually would vanish. Some would hold on into the Pliocene and even early Pleistocene, however, one group would emerge and become one of the most iconic of all prehistoric mammals, the Mammoths. The earliest Mammoth ever discovered, around 5,000,000 years ago was the South African Mammoth, Mammuthus subplanifrons.

Discovery:

In 1928, Henry Osborn was sent a letter from South Africa. What he was sent was a description of two proboscidean molars from Transvaal written by Dr.Raymond Dart (more famous for discovering Australopithecus africanus). Osborn described the teeth as being reminiscent of Mammoths found in America and Eurasia. The distinctive ridges on the teeth being ideal for grazing on the grassland of Africa. And during that same year, he described the species as Mammuthus subplanifrons.

Description:

In terms of size, it was around the same size if not slightly bigger than modern-day African Elephants. Between 10-12ft tall and 8-10 tons in weight, this was a large animal on the plains in Pliocene Africa. Even this early into the evolutionary tree, they already had massive, spiraling tusks over 7ft long. They were likely used to dig for minerals, roots and vegetation in the dirt, and combat as well between rival males. Behavior-wise, they likely had similar behavior to other elephants. A matriarchal structure where a dominant female led her herd of animals throughout the plains of Africa. The habitat, as previously stated was on the open plains of South/Southeastern Africa from South Africa to Ethiopia. Predators of this massive herbivore would have been the various felines on the African plains. Mainly early Saber-Toothed Cats such as the Homotheres and other Machairodonts. At this time in Africa during the Pliocene, Mammoths, as well as some of the last Gompotheres (Anancus) and early ancestors of modern-day African Elephants (Loxodonta) were the last remaining elephants in Africa. A recent study indicates that African Mammoths and Loxodonta survived longer than Anancus since their preferred habitat was open grassland while woodland was the preferred habitat for Gompotheres being more adapted for a browsing lifestyle.

Extinction:

The extinction of this giant is largely believed to have been down to climate change. The study indicates that perhaps the vanishing of specific plant species was what caused these animals to dwindle. By the dawn of the Pleistocene, South African Mammoths would vanish from South Africa, their distant cousins, modern African Elephants would persist to the modern day, and their close cousins would vanish some 3,000 years ago. Often a footnote in terms of Mammoths given the more famous Eurasian and American counterparts, it still represents the earliest form of these iconic prehistoric mammals.
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First proboscidean I've covered. A good acquaintance of mine, Demon Hunter released a huge mega-pack of Elephants and so I thought, why not come back into these profiles with a more obscure mammal. This guy is rather unique so I thought I'd give some insight into this fascinating piece of Mammoth Evolution. Unfortunately, there isn't much data on the South African Mammoth aside from a couple papers written, huge thanks to LADAlbarran2000 and his "Land of Giants" work that helped me find the study.
Land of giants by LADAlbarran2000 on DeviantArt
Study:
Dietary resource partitioning among three coeval proboscidean taxa (Anancus capensis, Mammuthus subplanifrons, Loxodonta cookei) from the South African Early Pliocene locality of Langebaanweg E Quarry - ScienceDirect

Will this be in PMP? No. I will be going to Africa and rescue Proboscideans, but not this one. As where PMP is right now... Well... It's a bit behind schedule. Been kinda sidetracked with Jurassic World Evolution 2, as well as some personal stuff as well. BUT, I will try to release it by the end of the year.

Model and Skin made by Demon Hunter:
South African Mammoth (Demon Hunter) | ZT2 Download Library Wiki | Fandom

Description
Mammuthus subplanifrons

Africa. It's the cradle of humankind, but even more than that, it's also the cradle for some of the most iconic megafaunal mammals, the Elephantoidea, the modern Elephants. As the Miocene ended, many Gompotheres, Ambelodonts and the Deinotheres dwindled and eventually would vanish. Some would hold on into the Pliocene and even early Pleistocene, however, one group would emerge and become one of the most iconic of all prehistoric mammals, the Mammoths. The earliest Mammoth ever discovered, around 5,000,000 years ago was the South African Mammoth, Mammuthus subplanifrons.

Discovery:

In 1928, Henry Osborn was sent a letter from South Africa. What he was sent was a description of two proboscidean molars from Transvaal written by Dr.Raymond Dart (more famous for discovering Australopithecus africanus). Osborn described the teeth as being reminiscent of Mammoths found in America and Eurasia. The distinctive ridges on the teeth being ideal for grazing on the grassland of Africa. And during that same year, he described the species as Mammuthus subplanifrons.

Description:

In terms of size, it was around the same size if not slightly bigger than modern-day African Elephants. Between 10-12ft tall and 8-10 tons in weight, this was a large animal on the plains in Pliocene Africa. Even this early into the evolutionary tree, they already had massive, spiraling tusks over 7ft long. They were likely used to dig for minerals, roots and vegetation in the dirt, and combat as well between rival males. Behavior-wise, they likely had similar behavior to other elephants. A matriarchal structure where a dominant female led her herd of animals throughout the plains of Africa. The habitat, as previously stated was on the open plains of South/Southeastern Africa from South Africa to Ethiopia. Predators of this massive herbivore would have been the various felines on the African plains. Mainly early Saber-Toothed Cats such as the Homotheres and other Machairodonts. At this time in Africa during the Pliocene, Mammoths, as well as some of the last Gompotheres (Anancus) and early ancestors of modern-day African Elephants (Loxodonta) were the last remaining elephants in Africa. A recent study indicates that African Mammoths and Loxodonta survived longer than Anancus since their preferred habitat was open grassland while woodland was the preferred habitat for Gompotheres being more adapted for a browsing lifestyle.

Extinction:

The extinction of this giant is largely believed to have been down to climate change. The study indicates that perhaps the vanishing of specific plant species was what caused these animals to dwindle. By the dawn of the Pleistocene, South African Mammoths would vanish from South Africa, their distant cousins, modern African Elephants would persist to the modern day, and their close cousins would vanish some 3,000 years ago. Often a footnote in terms of Mammoths given the more famous Eurasian and American counterparts, it still represents the earliest form of these iconic prehistoric mammals.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
First proboscidean I've covered. A good acquaintance of mine, Demon Hunter released a huge mega-pack of Elephants and so I thought, why not come back into these profiles with a more obscure mammal. This guy is rather unique so I thought I'd give some insight into this fascinating piece of Mammoth Evolution. Unfortunately, there isn't much data on the South African Mammoth aside from a couple papers written, huge thanks to LADAlbarran2000 and his "Land of Giants" work that helped me find the study.
Land of giants by LADAlbarran2000 on DeviantArt
Study:
Dietary resource partitioning among three coeval proboscidean taxa (Anancus capensis, Mammuthus subplanifrons, Loxodonta cookei) from the South African Early Pliocene locality of Langebaanweg E Quarry - ScienceDirect

Will this be in PMP? No. I will be going to Africa and rescue Proboscideans, but not this one. As where PMP is right now... Well... It's a bit behind schedule. Been kinda sidetracked with Jurassic World Evolution 2, as well as some personal stuff as well. BUT, I will try to release it by the end of the year.

Model and Skin made by Demon Hunter:
South African Mammoth (Demon Hunter) | ZT2 Download Library Wiki | Fandom