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About Deinotherium:
The "deino" in Deinotherium derives from the same root as the "dino" in dinosaur--this "terrible mammal" (actually a kind of prehistoric elephant) was one of the largest non-dinosaur animals ever to roam the earth, rivaled only by contemporary "thunder beasts" like Brontotherium and Chalicotherium. Apart from its sizable (about 5 to 10 ton) weight, the most notable feature of Deinotherium was its short, downward-curving tusks, so different from the usual elephant appendages that puzzled 19th-century paleontologists reassembled them upside down. Still, Deinotherium wasn't directly ancestral to modern-day elephants, instead inhabiting a side branch along with relatives like Amebeledon and Anancus.
A few species of Deinotherium managed to persist into historical times, until they either succumbed to changing climatic conditions or were either hunted to extinction by early humans. Some experts have speculated that these giant beasts inspired ancient tales of, well, giants, though Deinotherium was far from the only plus-sized megafauna mammal to have inspired our ancient ancestors.
