ExtinctZoo - The Biggest Land Mammal To Ever Live

Episode Date: May 17, 2026

There's a new king in these parts...and it ain't a dinosaur.

Visit BetMGM casino and check out the newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick. BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor,

free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. 66 million years ago. after the violent demise of the non-avian dinosaurs, courtesy of a mountain-sized asteroid, the world was left up for grabs, and one little group among the rubble wasted no time in making it their own, and that would be, of course, us, or rather, mammals. Relatively quickly, mammals that survived quickly filled in the gaps at dinosaurs once, well, filled, leading to a massive explosion in mammalian diversity, and size, growing far,

far larger than previously, no longer being held back by their old tyrant overlords. And this trend of getting bigger and bigger ended up continuing for quite some time. As for millions of years, the bar kept getting a little bit higher and higher. Until on land, at least, it reached its final form, about 34 million years ago during the Eocene epoch, when a new Titanic mammal popped up across the plains of Eurasia, a strange animal that can only be best described as a giant hornless rhino. And his name is Pariseratherium. It was touted by many scientists of being the largest land mammal to have ever lit, and by fair margin at that, with nothing having come close to it previously or since its discovery.

And yet, this might not actually be the truth, as in the 1800s, a chance discovery was made in India, then unveiled a new prehistoric elephant so giant that it not only shook our understanding of mammals and our max size, but has challenged even the paracyrotherium in stature, with it now often being dubbed the true king of mammals and the largest mammal to have ever walked. And this is Paleoocodon nematicus. As you might have picked up on by its name, this new mysterious elephant wasn't a genus, like Homo, rather being a specific species that belonged to an already known genus, the Paleoloxidon. Now, this rather extensive genus of elephants was first thought to evolve out of Africa

some 4 million years ago during the early Pliocene, and emphasis on first thought, as now we aren't actually sure how old they truly are. With currently the oldest universally agreed upon Paleoloxidon only being about 1.8 million years old, having appeared in the early Pleistocene, and that is Paleoacodon Recki. This species was similar to later pneumaticus in the sense that it was an absolute giant, with a completed male specimen from Kenya, indicating a shoulder height similar to the total height of a female giraffe,

and an overall weight slightly greater than 12 tons, which already makes it larger than any living species of elephant today. And guess what? In 2024, it got another size increase as well, with a review of seven measured specimens, showing a size range from 4.5 tons all the way up to 15.3 tons. which is, for a perspective, heavier than six of the largest living rhinos smushed together. And with their large size, powerful tusks, and other indispensable tools, this new genus ended up taking over Africa and becoming the most dominant and widespread elephant

within the continent. And from there, things would only get crazier for the paleoacodon. As approximately 800,000 years ago, a certain population of Recki migrated out of Africa, likely being spurred on by ratification and habitat shifts. And thus they made their way into Eurasia, where this migratory group, would eventually become not one, but two new species. One of them was the Antichus, an equally massive elephant that tipped the scales at over 15 tons,

and on top of that was taller than nearly every theropod to have ever lived. Ironically, though, despite their initial size, many of these elephants would one day spread to various islands throughout Europe, such as Crete and Cyprus, where then its ascendance would actually shrink due to insular dwarfism, and one day resulting in the smallest elephants to ever exist, some of which, by the way, were smaller than pigs. So, truly a far cry from the enormity of the Antichus.

And yet, even this elephant, the Antichus, was nothing to that second species which descended from the Rectae, and as you might be able to guess, that species was Paleo-Oxidon pneumaticus. Back in the 1830s, bones belonged to this animal were first located by the British East India Company, within the central region of the country. Now the first finds mainly consisted of a skull and parts of post-cranial material near the Godavari River. it was clear that this was a new species of elephant, but no one could agree on if it belonged to the same genus as the still-living African elephants, or if it was a kind of ancient elephanted. And it wasn't until 1942 that the new creature was definitively added as the species

the Paleo-Loxidon genus, instead of the genus Loxidanta, which the African elephants belong to. However, with this said, while it did take quite a while for its classification to be fully confirmed, it did not take long for paleontologists to realize that this was one whopper of an animal, as just one located femur early on was larger than that of a freaking triceratops, who, as you may know, is another giant in its own right, to put it lightly. And based off of this found femur, it was estimated that it belonged to a 4.35 meter or 14.3 foot tall individual that was heavier than any African elephant ever recorded. So, mighty impressive.

However, the real shocker would only come after this discovery, as eventually a even more ridiculously sized femur was found, which was stated as being about 20% larger than the previous, and one of the first signs that the nomadicus was really in a weight class of its own. And in 2015, one study estimated that this new specimen in life might have stood as tall as 5.2 meters or 17.1 feet at the shoulders, making it not only taller than most giraffes, but also taller than every single terrestrial carnivorous predator ever, including the Spinosaurus if you don't count the sale. And given its estimated volume, researchers believe that, that this individual could have weighed as heavy as 22 tons, which at this size officially outclassed the Paracyrotherium,

and thus giving it the title of the largest land mammal known to science thus far. On top of this already crazy achievement, this absurd weight would make it considerably heavier than the Spinosaurus, giganodosaurus, and T-Rex, and plus by the way, every non-saropod dinosaur to ever live. In fact, forget non-sarpods. It was even able to rival numerous saropods at this size, including some of the most famous long necks out there, such as the Diplodocus and the Brontosaurus. So, we're talking about such a size that it's almost kind of hard to picture it, and a size that really reignited the conversation on just how big terrestrial mammals could get. Although, there was a bit of a problem, and that was that these remains were ultimately fragmented,

and it made many paleontologists quite skeptical of the size estimates, including, by the way, the author of the study himself, who said that 22 tons should be taken with a grain of salt. But that being said, the issue of fragmentation is not something unique to the nematicus either, as it's also been a problem for the Parasarotherium and other contenders for the title of top dog, or top mammal, leading to much debate and argument on this topic. However, all is not lost for the nematicus' claim. As in early 2023, a new study took a look at yet another specimen, simply referred to as CF-Phalyloxid on nematicus. And in this study, the species was found to be relatively close in size to the previous estimates, with them giving

at a weight of up to 19 tons. And what's also very interesting is that the very same study also did a separate analysis on the Paracere Ethereum, which concluded that it was actually lighter than the elephant, despite being taller, with the weight of around 17 tons, and thus leading to increased agreement that the nomadicus truly is the current largest land mammal known to science, at least on average. And then, on top of that, just two years ago, there was a third study that analyzed five different specimens that also reported a max weight of around 19 tons, possibly. even a bit more, which shows at the very least the nematicus is still definitely an absolute giant

in mammalian terms. And uh, not to take shots or anything, but a 22-papers separately reported that an analysis of two species of paracyrotherium found a size range between 11 and 12.4 tons, so, uh, not beating our boy there. Additionally, even if the paleoloxid on pneumaticus tapped out at 19 tons instead of 22 tons, it would still retain the achievement of being larger than any known theropod. And just to give you a little taste for how big 19 tons still is, that's about 300 times heavier than your average human and three times bigger than the average African bush elephant, the largest living land animal of today. Also, one must not forget that these estimates are based on what has been found, which is to say very little, considering how many

of them must have lived through the ages. So if we are finding multiple specimens already that are possibly 19 tons and maybe 22 tons, then maybe 22 tons or more isn't so especially when you consider that extant elephants, their closest living relatives obviously, show considerable size variation across the board. For example, the largest male Asian elephants are about 40% heavier than once considered the average max weight, while the largest recorded African bush elephant thus far hovered around 11 tons, which is, for perspective, nearly double the size of a typical individual, so who knows just how big the nomadicus could have gotten.

Unfortunately, though, exceptionally sized individuals like these record breakers are usually one in thousands or even millions. So while my imagination does wonder, I personally am not getting my hopes too high for a monster specimen popping up anytime soon. Although this said, with our current specimen, it is honestly kind of greedy of me to complain for more, as their stature was truly shocking. And ultimately, the nematicus wasn't just big-bodied, but it was also extremely dense and sturdy, with its skull in particular being exceptionally well-built. And over the years, it's drawn a lot of attention, not just for being dense, but also because of its unique shape. As like other Paleo-Oxodon species, the nomadicus had large growths of bone known as a prido-o-ocipital crest on top of its skull.

And along with giving it a megamine look to it, these crests are believed to have anchored the elephant's thick spleenus muscles in life, which were designed to help support its giant head. And this was important, not only for moving its giant skull around, but also for wielding its most iconic and hard-to-miss weapons, its tusks. Like many elephants, the nomadicus had two forward-facing incisor teeth composed of ivory that were elongated and formed into tusks that continued to grow throughout their life. And it's believed that they mostly mirrored those seen in the sister species, the Antikas,

who are also known as the straight tusks elephants, meaning that unlike modern elephants, the nomadicus only had a slight curve to their tusks. Additionally, like is the case for other paleooxidon species, it's believed that the nematicus' tusks were long, even relative to its already mass of body, and therefore it is generally believed to have had the longest tusks of any known animal, period, with the largest of tusks, possibly measuring longer than it was tall at 5 meters or 20 feet, while each also would have weighed more than a freaking jaguar. And yet, thanks to its uniquely designed head and large spleenious muscles, it would have

had no problem wielding these massive weapons as if they were almost like feathers, allowing them to pierce and mall competition, as well as to, uh, absolutely destroy anything dumb enough to get in their way. I mean, imagine this. If a living elephant can already make holes in its own kind with their tusks, just imagine what a nomadicus' tusks could do. And when you take a look in modern elephants today, you'll come to realize that their tusks are not the only weapons they have at their disposal, with of course the weight itself also

being deadly within its own right. And the nematicus could likely use its body weight to just trample animals directly and deliberately crush them, which, let's just say based on indirect evidence, is very messy and painful. This all said, though, these guys weren't all built for damage or defense, as their learned schools also granted them the ability to move their heads download to the floor without having to worry about getting off balance, or being unable to lift their heads back up again. And that's a very important feat, as the Nomenicus is thought to have been a grazing animal, and this is a conclusion that is based off of the morphology of its teeth, as well as the isotope ratios

that suggest predominantly grazed on C4 grasses, instead of being a browser, like a giraffe, as one may assume. And considering that some modern-day elephants can spend 16 hours a day on eating alone and consume up to 70,000 calories, it's not a stretch that based off of the size difference to assume the nomadicus likely spent most of its day eating as well, and needed over 150,000 calories just to sustain its size, which for reference is enough to feed more than 60 people. Yet, as you might be able to imagine, all this time and effort spent on feasting, would have left the nomadicists a bit more vulnerable to attacks, especially since the likely graze in open grasslands, putting a big old bullseye on it, relatively and figuratively.

But, and perhaps obviously, thanks to its immense size, thick skin, and wicked tusks, fully, and even partially grown adults, would have been nearly impervious to virtually all predators that lived alongside it, which across its domain included Smilodons, other felines like panthers, bears, wolves, hyenas, and even a supersized crock by the name of Ramfusukas. That is, by the way, actually one of the largest crocodilians to have ever lived. And yet, even with that, I still think an adult nematicus would be well off its menu. Funny enough, or perhaps depressantly, depending on your perspective, the only predator that might have actually been a real threat to these guys was a primate.

And, uh, you only need a mirror to see who I'm talking about. Humans. You see, the nematicus is believed to have evolved sometime during the Middle Pleistocene, a period that began about 700,000 years ago. And it would continue to live into the late Pleistocene as well. And during these times, modern humans had expanded out of Africa, and settled into the rest of the world, with overlap with the nematicus happening along the way, with certain formations we know of, yielding not only pneumaticus bones, but also human bones.

And while not set in stone, it is believed that coexistence between Archine and the giant lasted for roughly 30,000 years. And some evidence shows that during this coexistence, we did what we do best, and that is, try and kill it. Now, I will say, the evidence in question is actually mostly indirect, as its comparative evidence, involving other paleo-oxidon species, namely the Antikas, Recki, and the Na'amani. And these three species were, as I've mentioned before, all exceedingly large, and were also importantly found with clear evidence of having been hunted and butchered by early humans,

and modern humans, suggesting that humans were already quite adept at taking down an extremely large megafauna. The Naumani particular is also a very fascinating case, as it is actually the direct descendant of a population ofomaticus's that successfully reached Japan via land. But these descendants were already significantly smaller than their ancestors, being only about half the size. And thus, it is kind of hard to draw parallel, as the nomadicus may have been exempt from taking on attempts at least once fully grown. Although, if it was targeted by humans, it has been suggested that projectiles would have been the main weapon of choice. Additionally, even with our quote-unquote expertise in this area, any hunt of this giant would have been an arduous task, as along with its incredible stature, humans would also have to deal with its incredible intelligence.

intelligence. Now if you didn't know this, it's well-established that modern elephants are highly intelligent creatures, and many paleontologists believe that the nomadicus was white intelligence as well, which would have definitely proved useful when defending itself from many threats. And the perceived intelligence of the nomadicus would have also played a large role in his social life, with the elephant likely living in complex herds, that would have also added an additional layer of protection to this already well-equipped animal, especially for the juveniles. And so this intelligence, paired with its other traits and features, made the Paleoacodon nomadicus one tough cookie, and a highly successful cookie of that as well. As over the years, fossil remains showed

that it ended up expanding outside of India, into areas such as Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Japan, of course, and Southern China. This being said, though, I should have mentioned that some of these international remains, especially the ones in China, have been touted by some paleontologists as really belonging to another species of Paleoacodon, potentially descendants though. Nevertheless, it's very clear that the largest land mammal ever was no joke, and while it was around, it was one of the most dominant megafauna in the land, if not the planet. Yet, unfortunately, its size seems to not only be its main advantage, but also disadvantage. Relatively speaking, the paleoacodonomaticus is a recently extinct animal, with researchers giving it a expiration date between 50,000 and 25,000 years ago during the late Pleistocene. And though it is not guaranteed, some have speculated that it was a cooling trend leading up to the last glacial maximum that caused a change in its habitat and thus leading to a decrease in the amount of food available.

And seeing that, again, this titan needed an extreme amount of calories to sustain itself, its population quickly declined. But as I alluded to, others have also suggested that modern humans might have played a supporting role on its demise as well, citing that while the two did coexist for a long period of time, there was a noticeable change in the population that corresponds quite nicely with the introduction of projectile weapons, which is a little bit suspect. Additionally, other large animals in its environment also became extinct around the same time, including the Stegadon, a prehistoric hippo, and a zebra-like horse. Fortunately for us, though, unlike most extinct animals, we can still partially appreciate its glory today through its very close relative, the African bush elephant, the current, large, distrestrial animal. But what's interesting is that despite the African bush elephant being more slimmer in size, it's actually the African forest elephant to which it is more closer related to, based off of a mitochondrial DNA analysis, which showed the two are cousins of sorts. And who knows,

maybe this cousin will one day give rise to yet another truly giant elephant. Though I can't say I'm keeping my hopes up. Thanks for watching and until next time. On extinct zoo. Hey y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if.

Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair.ca. Wayfair, every style, every home.