Daily Dose of Prehistory Revival 24: Stegodon florensis insularis

Stegodon florensis insularis, meaning "Of the Island Flores Roofed Tooth", was a species of dwarf proboscidean that lived on the island of Flores between 850000 and 49600 years ago. While it's relatives were among the largest proboscideans (and were related to both mammoths and elephants but existed in their own sister taxon), Stegodon florensis insularis was an example of insular dwarfism and was often referred to as the Pygmy Stegodon. Standing 6.6 feet tall and weighing a little over 1200 pounds, they were far from defenseless on their island home yet were still preyed upon by Komodo Dragons, other large monitor lizards, and the dwarf hominid Homo floresiensis. Stegodon florensis insularis, much like most of the other megafauna on the island, went extinct when Homo sapiens arrived on the island.