Editing Proboscidea (section)

=== Dwarfism ===
{{main|Dwarf elephant}}
[[File:Palaeoloxodon falconeri Size Comparison.svg|thumb|Size comparison of the dwarf elephant ''[[Palaeoloxodon falconeri]]'' from the Pleistocene of Sicily and Malta to a human]]
Several species of proboscideans lived on islands and experienced [[insular dwarfism]]. This occurred primarily during the Pleistocene, when some elephant populations became isolated by fluctuating sea levels, although dwarf elephants did exist earlier in the Pliocene. These elephants likely grew smaller on islands due to a lack of large or viable predator populations and limited resources. By contrast, small mammals such as rodents develop [[Island gigantism|gigantism]] in these conditions. Dwarf proboscideans are known to have lived in [[Indonesia]], the [[Channel Islands of California]], and several islands of the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]].<ref name=Sukumar31/>

''[[Elephas celebensis]]'' of [[Sulawesi]] is believed to have descended from ''[[Elephas planifrons]]''. ''[[Palaeoloxodon falconeri|Elephas falconeri]]'' of [[Malta]] and [[Sicily]] was only {{convert|1|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}, and had probably evolved from the [[straight-tusked elephant]]. Other descendants of the straight-tusked elephant existed in [[Cyprus]]. Dwarf elephants of uncertain descent lived in [[Crete]], [[Cyclades]] and [[Dodecanese]], while dwarf mammoths are known to have lived in [[Sardinia]].<ref name=Sukumar31>Sukumar, pp. 31–33.</ref> The [[Columbian mammoth]] colonised the [[Channel Islands of California|Channel Islands]] and evolved into the [[pygmy mammoth]]. This species reached a height of {{convert|1.2|–|1.8|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} and weighed {{convert|200|–|2000|kg|lb|abbr=on}}. A population of small woolly mammoths survived on [[Wrangel Island]] as recently as 4,000 years ago.<ref name=Sukumar31/> After their discovery in 1993, they were considered dwarf mammoths.<ref name=Nature>{{cite journal | author = Vartanyan, S. L., Garutt, V. E., Sher, A. V. | date = 1993 | title = Holocene dwarf mammoths from Wrangel Island in the Siberian Arctic | journal = [[Nature (journal)|Nature]] | volume = 362 | pages = 337–40 | doi=10.1038/362337a0 | issue=6418| pmid = 29633990 | bibcode = 1993Natur.362..337V | s2cid = 4249191 }}</ref> This classification has been re-evaluated and since the [[Second International Mammoth Conference]] in 1999, these animals are no longer considered to be true "dwarf mammoths".<ref>{{cite journal |author=Tikhonov, A.; Agenbroad, L.; Vartanyan, S. |date=2003 |title=Comparative analysis of the mammoth populations on Wrangel Island and the Channel Islands |journal=Deinsea |volume=9 |issue= |pages=415–20 |issn=0923-9308}}</ref>