Dear all,
This question may seem daft ……. but actually it is a very logical one to ask. Until perhaps around 600 AD there existed elephants in the north of what is now Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia….the Maghreb. There is a lot of historical evidence for this. They were almost certainly African in origin and, interestingly smaller than Asian elephants – but that is about all we know. They may have been from the African forest or savannah groups (though this model for African elephants has recently shown to be over simplistic)…..or perhaps another distinct African lineage.
Aristotle said around 350 BC that elephants were numerous in the lands around the Pillars of Hercules (straits of Gibraltar). When this has been quoted it has been understood to mean that there were elephants on the ‘African side’, as there is later historical evidence of elephants in North African eg Hannibal’s elephants (except his own personal elephant, which is believed to have been Asian …and bigger than the rest, which were North African elephants). Aristotle may have wanted to include Iberia too, as having elephants but this not made clear at all.
What we do know is that elephants are excellent swimmers. The Straits of Gibraltar are only 14 km wide, which is nothing for an elephant. So, if there were elephant populations on the ‘Moroccan side’, there is a good chance that there were populations on the Spanish side or at least elephants were occasional or even regular visitors. There is similar vegetation on both sides and elephants would know this through smell. There would have been times of food shortages providing incentives to swim the straits, which could have resulted in visits or colonisation. There is also the possibility that elephants could have got into difficulties whilst on the shoreline (elephants are very happy to bath in the sea, as it is common on parts of the Gabon coast) and become accidental visitors/colonisers.
Evidence/information on elephants and swimming
Many of the recent elephants and the one mammoth that inhabited many of the Mediterranean Islands are believed to have at least in part swum there (they all under went a reduction in size…a typical response to island living). There were not always perfect land bridges to the islands.
Elephants swim across Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe – the same sort of distance as the Straits of Gibraltar.
Stegadons crossed the Lombok Straits (part of the Wallace Line) from Bali to Flores (and other Indonesian islands) – further than the Straits of Gibraltar.
Elephants often swim in the sea off Gabon, as protected areas meet the coast.
Elephants in India have been seen to swim to off shore islands to feed.
I’ve seen it written that elephants have been observed swimming just under 50km.
They swim at about 3kmph.
Is there any direct evidence of elephants in Spain?
I haven’t found any but there is no direct evidence for the North African Elephants either i.e. no sub fossil bones and hence no dna, as far as I can gather. If there were elephants in Spain in the recent past, I guess they would have become extinct before North African ones, as they would have only probably occupied a part of the peninsula and so have had a more limited range and Iberia may have had greater human pressures too.
What about currents in the Straits?
There are currents flowing east/west but as far as I can gather the central current flows counter to the northern and southern currents, partly off setting their effects, when swimming north – south. People who have swum the straits have done it in 4 -7 hours. Current speeds are 0- 5kmph.
What were these elephants doing in Northern Africa?
I have found nothing written about this. There is more than one possible scenario, however, I believe if we look at paleo-climate data we can put together perhaps a very possible explanation. 8,000-7,000 ya the Sahara was a mosaic of grassland, savannah and semi desert. This is known as the Saharan Humid Phase….and lasted up to about 5,000ya. Elephants and were present throughout most of what is now the Sahara and probably all the way to the Mediterranean coast. They are pictured on rock art all through the Sahara.
When the climate got drier and the Sahara formed, and a population of elephants perhaps were cut off in the Maghreb. They may even have got smaller due to environmental pressures …. i.e. limited space and food supply. The formation of the Sahara through climate change would effectively have left an ‘island’ population of elephants in the Maghreb. This in itself could also have induced, through nutritional pressures, elephants to swim the Straits, as desiccation was in steps and often rapid and often on the decades scale. Or pressures to swim could just have happened in odd drought years that would occur from time to time.
Interestingly any elephants that would have made it to Iberia, would have not had encountered their only predator….the North African, Barbary or Atlas lion.
Conclusion
I feel that although there is no direct proof of modern African elephants being present in the recent past in Iberia (and there appears to be none for North Africa to date either), I feel that it is very possible that between 8000 ya and early classical times, that elephants were present in Iberia either as infrequent visitors or even in large numbers on a permanent basis…. being eventually wiped out by man.
Clearly these are my opinions and I may have over looked important issues or articles on points I have made…..someone might have spotted errors in what I’ve written or know something I’ve missed and show that the idea is flawed. Does anyone have an opinion on the idea?
steveT
