cousins.
Of the elephant’s contemporaries, these creatures inhabit the closest gene-pools.
Spoiler alert. Some entries in the Table make veiled reference to entries elsewhere. Because some of you tell us you’ve enjoyed discovering these associations on your own, may we suggest holding off reading the rubric items until you’ve spent some time with the Table as a whole? Which, if you can’t spring for the print, you’re welcome to find here.
Cousins
12 | Rock Badger
Aka Hyrax, along with Sirenians (Nos. 13–15) this species is most closely related to the elephant: it has two prominent tusk-like upper incisors, and the male does not sport his testicles externally but keeps them tucked away high in the abdomen.
Cousins
13 | Manatee
Aka Sea Cow, manatees demonstrate an intelligence similar to dolphins, though it is somewhat less in-your-face. Unfortunately their curiosity, coupled with intense coastal development, results in collisions with boat props, leading to maiming, disfigurement, and death. Many manatees show spiral scar tissue along their backs caused by ships that lack propellor guards. The U.S. Geological Survey predicts if boat mortality rates continue to increase the population will not recover over the next century.
Cousins
14 | Dugong
The population has shrunk by a fifth over the last century, having disappeared from the waters of Hong Kong, Mauritius, Taiwan, and other parts of the western Pacific. Sailors have often mistaken dugongs for mermaids, which mermaids take offense at. Three dugongs remain in captivity; one in Japan, one at Sea World Indonesia, and one at Sydney Aquarium; they are social animals.
Cousins
15 | Stellar’s Sea Cow
As adults, these grew up to 9 meters (30 feet) long and may have weighed as much as 11 tons. Within 27 years of their discovery by Europeans the creature was reported hunted to extinction. In 1962, the crew of the Russian whaling ship Buran reported a group of marine mammals with short trunks grazing on seaweed in shallows off Kamchatka in the Gulf of Anadyr. The crew reported seeing six animals ranging from 6 to 8 meters (20 to 26 feet). There are also alleged sightings by local fishermen in the Kuril Islands and around the Kamchatka and Chukchi peninsulas.
Shh.