They're not extinct.

[Olaf The Great]

I heard somewhere on this forum(the EB part, I don't explore the rest.) that the Forest elephants, used by the Carthaginians, are extinct, aparently they are not.

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/afri...t_elephant.htm

[Discoskull]

Awesome! I will do great things with this knowledge.

[QwertyMIDX]

It is believed that the particular species of elephants used by the Carthies are extinct, but that the modern forest elephant is a close relative. One of the major reasons for this hypothesis is that the elephant of Carthaginian fame was a native not of the vast forests of central and west Africa but of the Atlas Mountains, which are anything but dense with foliage.

[Olaf The Great]

It is believed that the particular species of elephants used by the Carthies are extinct, but that the modern forest elephant is a close relative. One of the major reasons for this hypothesis is that the elephant of Carthaginian fame was a native not of the vast forests of central and west Africa but of the Atlas Mountains, which are anything but dense with foliage.

What are the physical differences, were the Atlas mountains different then?

[iberus_generalis]

north africa, south europe, iberia, and the northern sahara had much more forgiving climates, and were a lot more green than they are today..the climate was a lot more humid, making the north of africa a at least morroco, and i guess the zone of carthage, a green garden enabling the appearance of civilization on what is today dry unforgiving land...thats what i heard...now i don't know if it's true or not...

[Tellos Athenaios]

One of the main reseasons for their (presumed) extinction was the fact that Romans loved them in their Games, to see them getting killed...
And since no one considered the possibility of not capturing them, but breeding them...

[iberus_generalis]

how could the romans breed them? even today top zoos have dificulty breeding certain species, much less the romans....those were other times...although the roman society was really advanced, they were not ecological/biology experts...

[Spendios]

Plus elephants are not really breedable in captivity at large scale, they are very expensive to maintain (need a lot of water + food ) and they breed very slowly (gestation of 22 months ) , even in India elephants are held in semi-captivity.

[Zaknafien]

maybe they're related to the ancient elepahants of south america, smuggled across the ocean by the forebears of egyptian culture

[iberus_generalis]

ancient elefants of South america? that a new one....care to explain? i hope it's just a joke....or do they now say that there were elefants in south america? where would they come from? and mamoths, and mastodonts don't count as elefants....elefants are from asia, africa, and in ancient times, southern europe....

[Zaknafien]

there are images of tusked, probuscised(sp?) animals carved in ruins that pre-date the Incans and Olmecs and others in Peru and other places. I believe most anthropoligists are now open to the belief that a race of elephant-like creatures lived in south america around 15,000 years ago or so.

[Lusitani]

The Carthaginian elephants were from a different species (subspecies??) and they have gone extinct ages ago...i wrote a post about that a long time ago...cant remember where(prolly TW Forum), it had a few good links about them...which i lost in the meantime.
Bottom line is...they were about the size of the forest elephants...but they are gone.
I can try to find also a book with some info about them...if anyone's really interested in knowing though.

About the elephants in south america...well...there were mammoths in north america...and apparently the human colonozation of america came from the bering straight...soo..maybe a few pachiderms went south too...or maybe they kjust lived in the ppl's minds and shamanic dreams...old memories lol

[Discoskull]

The Carthaginian elephants were from a different species (subspecies??) and they have gone extinct ages ago...i wrote a post about that a long time ago...cant remember where(prolly TW Forum), it had a few good links about them...which i lost in the meantime.
Bottom line is...they were about the size of the forest elephants...but they are gone.
I can try to find also a book with some info about them...if anyone's really interested in knowing though.

About the elephants in south america...well...there were mammoths in north america...and apparently the human colonozation of america came from the bering straight...soo..maybe a few pachiderms went south too...or maybe they kjust lived in the ppl's minds and shamanic dreams...old memories lol

Or they hunted them to extinction (not that different from the methods used to hunt buffalo in closer-to-modern times).

About that info on the elephants the carthegenians used...I would enjoy that info and, what's more, have uses for it...just the name of the book or whatever would be good, I've been building a collection for reference...

[Lusitani]

Theres a small reference to them in the Men-at-Arms series of the Osprey books "Armies of the Carthaginian Wars 265-146 BC" and I found also this website with more specific info on elephants:

http://nabataea.net/elephants.html

Hope this is helpfull,

Lusitani

[Discoskull]

Thanks! I go to Amazon, to find elephants...