North African elephant
| North African elephant Temporal range: Holocene | |
|---|---|
| Roman mosaic at Ostia Antica, Italy | |
Extinct (c. 4th century AD.) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Proboscidea |
| Family: | Elephantidae |
| Genus: | Loxodonta |
| Species: | |
| Subspecies: | †L. a. pharaoensis |
| Trinomial name | |
| †Loxodonta africana pharaoensis Deraniyagala, 1948 | |
| Synonyms | |
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The North African elephant (Loxodonta africana pharaohensis) is an extinct subspecies of the African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana), or possibly a separate elephant species, that existed in North Africa, north of the Sahara, until it died out in Roman times. These were the famous war elephants used by Carthage in the Punic Wars, their conflict with the Roman Republic. Although the subspecies has been formally described, it has not been widely recognized by taxonomists. Other names for this animal include the North African forest elephant, Carthaginian elephant, and Atlas elephant. Its natural range probably extended along the coast of the Red Sea, in what is now Egypt, Sudan, and Eritrea, but it may have extended further across northern Africa.