Thirty-six million years ago there were already several members of the elephant family. This creature, which looked like a bizarre aquatic pig the size of a refrigerator, represents a split from the main elephant line. It's thought to have adopted a hippo-like lifestyle, browsing aquatic vegetation.

PRONUNCIATION: MEE-RI-THEER-EE-UM
LIVED: 36 – 33 million years ago
SIZE: 4 feet high and 6.5 feet long
FACT: Herbivorous, consuming sea grass and floating/waterside vegetation
MEANING: Moeris beast (after Lake Moeris, where the first fossils were found)
CLOSEST LIVING RELATIVE: Elephants
RANGE: North Africa