The last Paleoloxodon species in Africa, P. iolensis, became extinct at the end of the Middle Pleistocene, around 130,000 years ago. Most Eurasian species of Palaeoloxodon became extinct towards the end of the last glacial period. The youngest record of P. antiquus are footprints from the southern Iberian Peninsula, dating to approximately 28,000 years ago. The youngest Japanese records of P. naumanni date to around 24,000 years ago. Similar dates have been reported for Indian P. namadicus and Chinese Palaeoloxodon. Some of the Mediterranean dwarf species held on for longer, with the youngest dates for the Cyprus dwarf elephant P. cypriotes around 12,000 years ago. P. tiliensis from the Greek island of Tilos was suggested to have survived as recently as 3,500 years Before Present based on preliminary radiocarbon dating done in the 1970s, which would make it the youngest surviving elephant in Europe, but this has not been thoroughly investigated.
