of Africa, around 60 million years ago, the earliest proboscideans were much smaller than living elephants, with Eritherium having a body mass of around . By the late Eocene, some members of Proboscidea like Barytherium had reached considerable size, with an estimated mass of around 2 tonnes, while others like Moeritherium are suggested to have been semi-aquatic.

A major event in proboscidean evolution was the collision of Afro-Arabia