title: Browsing and grazing in elephants: the isotope record of modern and fossil proboscideans.
abstract: The diet of extant elephants (Loxodonta in Africa, Elephas in Asia) is dominated by C3browse although some elephants have a significant C4grass component in their diet. This is particularly noteworthy because high-crowned elephantid cheek teeth represent adaptation to an abrasive grazing diet and because isotopic analysis demonstrates that C4vegetation was the dominant diet for Elephas in Asia from 5 to 1 Ma and for both Loxodonta and Elephas in Africa between 5-1 Ma. Other proboscideans in Africa and southern Asia, except deinotheres, also had a C4-dominated diet from about 7 Ma (when the C4biomass radiated in tropical and subtropical regions) until their subsequent extinction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA e-mail: tcerling@bingham.mines.utah.edu, Fax: +1-801-5817065, , , , , , US.
authors.forename: Thure E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Cerling
authors.affiliation: George C. Page Museum, 5801 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036, USA, , , , , , US.
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: The National Museums of Kenya, PO Box 40658, Nairobi, Kenya, , , , , , KE.
authors.forename: Meave G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Leakey
keywords: Browsing; Diet; Key words Elephants; Stable isotopes