Palaeoloxodon recki is an extinct species related to the Asian elephant Elephas maximus. 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. The Asian Elephant is the closest living relative of P. recki. P. recki was a successful grass eating elephant that lived throughout the Pliocene and the Pleistocene until it was pushed to extinction, perhaps by competition with members of the genus Loxodonta, the African elephants of today.