Kingdom Animalia Suborder †Deinotheroidea Scientific name Chilgatherium harrisi Rank Genus | Class Mammalia Family †Deinotheriidae Phylum Chordata Order Proboscidea | |
 | ||
Subfamily †Chilgatheriinae
Sanders, Kappelman & Rasmussen, 2004 Species †C. harrisi
Sanders, Kappelman & Rasmussen, 2004 Similar Prodeinotherium, Proboscidea, Deinotheriidae, Barytherium, Daouitherium | ||
Chilgatherium ("Chilga Beast" after the locality in which it was found) is the earliest and most primitive representative of the family Deinotheriidae. It is known from late Oligocene (27 to 28 million years old)-aged fossil teeth found in the Ethiopian district of Chilga. So far, only a number of molar teeth have been found, but these are distinct enough that this animal can be identified with confidence. The teeth differ from those of Prodeinotherium, Deinotherium, and the various barytheres in various details, enough to show that this is a distinct type of animal, and has been placed in its own subfamily. Compared to later deinotheres, Chilgatherium was quite small, about 2 m (6.6 ft) tall at the shoulder and weighed about 1.5 t (1.7 short tons). It is not known if it shared the distinctive downward-curving tusks on the lower jaw that the later deinotheres had.
Chilgatherium disappears prior to the Early Miocene, where Prodeinotherium occurs instead.