| Javan elephant | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Partial fossil tooth of an Asian elephant collected in Cipeundeuy,West Bandung Regency,West Java, possibly of a Javan elephant | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Proboscidea |
| Family: | Elephantidae |
| Genus: | Elephas |
| Species: | |
| Subspecies: | E. m. sondaicus |
| Trinomial name | |
| Elephas maximus sondaicus Deraniyagala, 1953[1] | |
TheJavan elephant (Elephas maximus sondaicus) was proposed byPaules Edward Pieris Deraniyagala in 1953, based on anillustration of acarving on the Buddhist monument ofBorobudur inJava. He thought that theAsian elephant (Elephas maximus) had indeed existed on the island and had gone extinct.[2] It may be consideredsynonymous with theSumatran elephant (E. maximus sumatranus).[1]
Fossils of the Asian elephant have been found inPleistocene deposits on Java. The question of when elephants became extinct in Java is unsettled. Chinese chronicles contemporary with the period ofHindu influence in Java recorded that Javan kings rode on elephants, and that Java exported ivory to China. As elephants were, at least occasionally, transported by ship, the elephants in Java during the period of Hindu influence may have been imported from India.[3]
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