Palaeoloxodon namadicus

A possible largest land mammal ever, resting on very little bone. A 2015 study of elephant body size scaled this extinct elephant from fragmentary limb bones, including part of a femur, to about 16 feet at the shoulder and 22 to 24 tons, which would put it more than 5 tons above the biggest known Paraceratherium. The catch is in the evidence. Part of a femur is a thin basis for a world record, and lower estimates for the species exist. The entry is here because the claim is serious and widely repeated, but it is best read as a plausible rival to Paraceratherium, not a settled winner, and still several times lighter than a dinosaur like Argentinosaurus.