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This is the first complete treatise on the evolution and palaeoecology of the Proboscidea or elephants, one of the great mammalian orders of the Cenozoic, of which only two species survive today. It reviews their classification, the major adaptive radiations and their evolutionary patterns, and the origins and current status of extant elephant species.Their success over evolutionary time is reflected by their morphological and taxonomic diversity, their nearly worldwide distribution on every continent except Australia and Antarctica, and their persistence through nearly 50 million years. Their great past ability to migrate and to adapt to changing climatic conditions and interspecific competition provides a unique laboratory for the testing of evolutionary theories and development of new concepts.