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( Moeritherium)
Moeritherium ('the beast from Lake Moeris') is a genus consisting of several species. These prehistoric mammals are related to the elephant and, more distantly, the sea cow. They lived during the Eocene epoch. The Moeritherium species were pig-like animals, dating back to 37 million years ago. The Moeritherium resembled modern tapirs[1] or pygmy hippopotamuses. It was smaller than modern elephants, standing only 70 cm high at the shoulder and was about 3 m long. It is believed to have wallowed in swamps and rivers, filling the ecological niche now filled by the hippopotamus. The shape of its teeth suggest that it ate soft water vegetation. The shape of the skull suggests that Moeritherium did not possess an elephant-like trunk, although it is possible that it had a broad and flexible upper lip for grasping aquatic vegetation. The incisor teeth formed small tusks, although these would have looked more like the teeth of a hippo than a modern elephant[2] [3]. In 1901, Charles William Andrews described Moeritherium lyonsi from fossil remains found in the Qasr-el-Sagha formation in the Al Fayyum in Egypt. Andrews described Moeritherium gracile from fossil remains of a smaller specimen found in the same area in 1902 in fluvio-marine formation.[4][5] In 1904, the first Moeritherium trigodon fossils were discovered by Charles Andrews in the deposits of an oasis in Al Fayyum.[6][1] It is also found in other sites around North and West Africa [7]. In 1911, Max Schlosser of Munich divided Moeritherium lyonsi into two species. Moeritherium lyonsi a large form from the Qasr-el-Sagha formation, and a new large species Moeritherium andrewsi from a fluvio-marine formation. [4][5][8] In 2006, Moeritherium chehbeurameuri has been described from fossil remains found in the early late Eocene locality of Bir El Ater, Algeria. [9]
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