Growth and sexual dimorphism among Miocene elephantoids: the example of Gomphotherium angustidens

Abstract It has long been known that elephants are ever-growing mammals. The lifespan of the African elephant. Loxodonta africana, is estimated at about 60 years and growth lasts until the last molar comes into wear, i.e. 40–50 years, although the rate of growth is slowed after 40 years in males and around 30 years in females (Laws et al. 1975; Hanks 1979). Daubenton, in 1764, first understood that the molars of the elephant succeeded during life without vertical replacement. Identification of grinding teeth and their state of wear was then used to give an individual age to living elephants. Current dental ages are those proposed by Laws (1966) and modified by Sikes (1971), Hanks (1972), and Beden (1979) for Loxodonta africana; and by Roth and Shoshani (1988) for Elephas maximus. Such an approach was rarely applied to fossil proboscideans, due to scarcity of material. One notable exception is found in Saunders (19 77) who defined five age-groups for the American mastodon, Mammut americanum.