Palaeoloxodon falconeri

Palaeoloxodon falconeri is an extinct species of dwarf elephant that lived during the Middle Pleistocene, sometime between about 500,000 and 200,000 years ago, on the Mediterranean islands of Sicily and Malta. It is among the smallest of all dwarf elephants, standing under one metre at the shoulder as a fully grown adult. It descended from a population of the mainland European straight-tusked elephant, and its small body size is a result of insular dwarfism. A 2015 study of Spinagallo Cave specimens estimated an adult male at about 96.5 centimetres tall and 305 kilograms, an adult female at 80 centimetres and 168 kilograms, and a newborn at 33 centimetres and 6.7 kilograms. Tooth wear suggests a predominantly grazing diet with a high intake of abrasive material such as grass phytoliths. The species is named for the paleontologist Hugh Falconer, who described dwarf elephant remains from Zebbug Cave in Malta, where the first molar was found in 1859.