New Delhi, India

The discovery of a giant fossil skull of an elephant in India's Kashmir Valley has left the scientists puzzled.

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The elephant skull was found buried along with 87 stone tools which were used by prehistoric humans and other materials which were excavated under Dr Ghulam Bhat at the University of Jammu.

The skull was studied by an international team of scientists from the Florida Museum of Natural History, the British Museum, the University of York, and the Natural History Museum (London), along with the University of Helsinki's Dr. Steven Zhang to find out the age and evolutionary context of this megaherbivore. The paper was published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

"From the general shape of the skull, it's quite apparent that the elephant belonged to Palaeoloxodon, or straight-tusked elephants, among the largest land mammals that ever lived. Full-grown adults easily stood around 4m tall at the shoulder and weighed 9–10 tonnes," said Zhang, who is a palaeontologist from the University's Department of Geosciences and Geography.

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"Yet what's puzzled experts for some time is that the Kashmir skull lacks a thickened, forward-projecting crest at the skull roof which typifies other Palaeoloxodon skulls found in India," he added.

Here's what recent research found in the skull 

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In recent research, it was found that the skull crest in these elephants turned more prominent with sexual and developmental maturity. 

"From the size, the wisdom teeth and a few other telltale features of the skull, it is evident that the animal was a majestic bull elephant in the prime of its life, but the lack of a well-developed skull crest, particularly in comparison with other mature male skulls from Europe and from India, tells us we have a different species on our hands here," Zhang said.

According to the research team, the features of the Kashmiri skull matched another obscure skull from Turkmenistan which belonged to a distinct species called Palaeoloxodon turkmenicus.

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"What's always been puzzling about the Turkmen skull is that, besides the lack of a prominent crest at the skull roof, its other features are highly similar to the already well-known European species, P. antiquus. And this led a number of experts to suggest that the Turkmen specimen is simply an aberrant individual of the European species," Zhang stated 

"But with the Kashmir skull added to the mix, it becomes clear now that the two specimens can be theorized to represent a distinct species that we previously knew very little about, with a broad distribution from Central Asia to the northern Indian Subcontinent," explained Dr Advait Jukar, the lead author of the study. 

After measuring protein decomposition in the Kashmir Palaeoloxodon skull's tooth enamel and observing the stone tools found alongside, the team suggested that the skull belonged to a species distinct from other Eurasian Palaeoloxodon, which might be Palaeoloxodon turkmenicus. 

(With inputs from agencies)