Mammuthus africanavus

The species is primarily known from dental remains. The skull and lower jaws of an old adult male mammoth, now apparently lost, referred to M. africanavus, has been reported from Garet et Tir, Algeria, dating to the Late Pliocene. The specimen, though somewhat damaged and distorted when described unambiguously represents a mammoth, with a tall skull over 1.45 metres (4.8 ft) in height with an especially short basicranium, and narrow palate. The specimen had twisted tusks at least 2.3 metres (7.5 ft) long, which were narrowly separated from each other in their elongate tusk sheaths/sockets/alveoli, but sharply diverged from each other following their emergence from the skull. The skull was described by Maglio (1973) as similar to that of the primitive Eurasian mammoth species Mammuthus meridionalis.

Specimens intermediate between M. subplanifrons and M. africanavus have been reported from the Late Pliocene Hadar Formation, Ethiopia, dating to around 3.5 million years ago. The oldest specimens of M. africanavus date to around 3.5-3 million years ago, while the youngest specimen dates to around 2.32-2 million years ago.

At Aïn Boucherit in Algeria during the Early Pleistocene, the species lived alongside members of the genus Hippopotamus, rhinoceroses belonging to the genus Ceratotherium (which contains the living white rhinoceros), the suid (pig) Kolpochoerus, equines belonging to the genus Equus and Hipparion, the giant giraffid Sivatherium, the gomphothere Anancus, bovines, antelopes (Gazella, Kobus, Damaliscus, Megalotragus, Parmularius, Oreonagor and Parantidorcas) and canines (Canis, Vulpes).