An unusual find was made by a biologist from Jerusalem in a kibbutz in southern Israel, who noticed a large bone at the site of a sand quarry falling after the rain.
Researchers note that this is not the first time that the remains of an ancient elephant have been found in this area, but the new artifact is of giant size: 2.6 m in length and about 20 cm in diameter; it is also almost completely preserved.
It's not yet completely recovered, so archaeologists don't know what kind of elephant belonged to, but scientists think it could be a straight forest elephant.
Researchers believe that these elephants, from 800,000 to 400,000 years ago, lived in Levante, an area on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, and in the past, various species of elephants have settled all over Africa, Eurasia, and North America, but only some species have survived until our time, and one factor contributing to the decline in the population was hunting.
Researchers suggest that an elephant with a giant tusk could also be the prey of Homo Erectus, whose tribes inhabited the territory of Levant at that time.
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