Anancus is an extinct genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of gomphothere endemic to Africa, Europe, and Asia, that lived during the Turolian age

Turolian

The Turolian age is a period of geologic time within the Miocene used more specifically with European Land Mammal Ages. It precedes the Ruscinian age and follows the Vallesian age. The Turolian overlaps the Tortonian and Messinian ages....

 of the late Miocene

Miocene

The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...

 to early Pleistocene

Pleistocene

The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....

, roughly from 3—1.5 million years ago.

Anancus stood around 3 metres (9.8 ft) tall, and closely resembled a modern elephant

Elephant

Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...

. It had two tusks, whereas most other gomphotheres had four. Aside from its somewhat shorter legs, Anancus was also different from modern elephants in that its tusks were much longer, up to 4 metres (13.1 ft) in length. The tusks were possibly defense weapons not unlike elephants of today. The molar

Molar (tooth)

Molars are the rearmost and most complicated kind of tooth in most mammals. In many mammals they grind food; hence the Latin name mola, "millstone"....

s were not composed of lamellae like those of true elephants, but had cusp

Cusp (dentistry)

A cusp is an occlusal or incisal eminence on a tooth.Canine teeth, otherwise known as cuspids, each possess a single cusp, while premolars, otherwise known as bicuspids, possess two each. Molars normally possess either four or five cusps...

s, like tapir

Tapir

A Tapir is a large browsing mammal, similar in shape to a pig, with a short, prehensile snout. Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South America, Central America, and Southeast Asia. There are four species of Tapirs: the Brazilian Tapir, the Malayan Tapir, Baird's Tapir and the Mountain...

 and pig

Pig

A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...

 molars; Anancus appears to have lived in forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

s, eating from tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

s and shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

s and digging out tubers and roots in the forest floor, and it died out when these forests gave way to grass

Grass

Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...

lands.

Although not as famous, Anancus was at least as big as its cousins the mammoth

Mammoth

A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair...

s.

Taxonomy

Anancus was named by Aymard in 1855. This animal's species type is Anancus arvernensis. Anacus was assigned to the suborder Elephantiformes by Jeheskel Shoshani, Ph.D. and P. Tassy in 1996. It was then assigned to the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Gomphotheriidae by Carroll in 1988. It was assigned to the family Elephantidae

Elephantidae

Elephantidae is a taxonomic family, collectively elephants and mammoths. These are terrestrial large mammals with a trunk and tusks. Most genera and species in the family are extinct...

by McKenna and Bell in 1997 and by Lambert and Shoshani in 1998. Anancus was then assigned to the superfamily of Elephantoidea

Elephantoidea

Elephantoidea is a taxonomic group that contains the elephants as well as their closest extinct relatives....

by Kalb and Froelich in 1995 and Shoshani and Tassy in 2005. In 2009, L. Hautier, H. T. Mackaye, F. Lihoreau, P. Tassy, P. Vignaud and M. Brunet assigned it collectively to the subfamily Anancinae.