Palaeoloxodon recki is an extinct species of elephant native to Africa during the Pliocene and Pleistocene. At up to 14 feet (4.27 metres) in shoulder height, it was one of the largest elephant species to have ever lived. It is believed that P. recki ranged throughout Africa between 3.5 and 1 million years ago. P. recki was a successful grass-eating elephant until it became extinct, perhaps by competition with members of the genus Loxodonta, the African elephants of today. Its descendant taxon, "Elephas" jolensis persisted into the late Middle Pleistocene, c. 205-130 kya in Kenya, after which it was replaced by Loxodonta africana after a severe drought period.[1] P. recki is believed to be the ancestral species from which the Palaeoloxodon species of Eurasia are derived.[2] A male of P. recki from Koobi Fora was 40 years old when it died. At that age it was 4.27 metres (14.0 ft) tall and weighed 12.3 tonnes (12.1 long tons; 13.6 short tons).[3] The species is known from the Middle Atlas of Morocco.[4]