Head muscles of Loxodonta africana and Elephas maximus with comments on Mammuthus primigenius muscles

Studying muscles of extant Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) and Bush African elephants (Loxodonta africana) has been essential to learn about origin and insertion of muscles and to evaluate functions in living and extinct species. We present a comparison, focusing mainly on differences between the living species, and make inferences to possible anatomical homologies in the extinct Woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius). L. africana appears to have more primitive muscle characters than E. maximus; M. primigenius data are incomplete or absent.