Table 1 Statistical results from von Bertalanffy growth model for diaphyseal length of the tibia (DL) of P. falconeri and L. africana.

From: Palaeohistology reveals a slow pace of life for the dwarfed Sicilian elephant

P. falconeri

K

R2

W-Wrt

Est

CI 95%

SE

t value

p

TDL (1)

0.997

 − 1.60 (p = 0.10)

0.055

0.021–0.113

0.018

6.792

55.03E–07

TDL (2)

0.939

0 (p = 1)

0.079

0.059–0.103

0.012

6.504

8.22E–07

L. africana

TDL

0.871

0 (p = 1)

0.166

0.108–0.248

0.037

4.464

8.85E–05

P. falconeri

L inf

R2

W-Wrt

Est

CI 95%

SE

t value

p

TDL (1)

0.997

 − 1.60 (p = 0.10) 0 (p = 1)

192.75

160.20–327.5577

28.380

6.790

0.000

TDL (2)

0.939

0 (p = 1)

165.00

152.54–182.63

7.761

21.260

 < 2E–16

L. africana

TDL

0.871

0 (p = 1)

568.82

527.47–617.92

23.100

24.620

 < 2E–16

  1. Considering that in the case of P. falconeri, the equation (model 1) only includes data from a segment of the ontogeny that covers the period from birth until the recorded age (growth cessation, 23 years in our P. falconeri sample), we provided a second model (model 2) based on the measured ontogenetic trajectory of tibiae (model 1) plus the minimum longevity inferred for P. falconeri from the longest available tusk to make the VBGM of both taxa comparable (See “Materials and methods”; Table 3; Supplementary material 3, 4).
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