Philippine palaeontology is an area of study that has remained comparably largely stagnant throughout the decades. More recent explorations of Pleistocene deposits has been concentrated in the northern region of Luzon Island. The lack of attention on the rest of the Philippines islands, especially the Visayas and Mindanao regions, introduced a large knowledge gap that hinders a systematic assessment of the Philippine Biostratigraphy. This presentation describes the results of the re-examination of elephant fossils recovered from Cabarruyan Island, Anda, Pangasinan, curated by the National Museum, and details the exploration of Pleistocene deposits in Northern Mindanao, including an examination of potential new fossils belonging to the Mindanao Stegodon. With the help of Philippine and international mentors, we find that the Philippine Pleistocene warrants further study. Our take away is that analysis is restricted by the fragmentary state of fossils, which emphasises the need for new explorations and recovery of better-preserved fossils. Importantly, there's an immediate need to study the curated fossils using recently developed techniques and modern nomenclature*.
*Also, the Philippine pgymy elephant is NOT Elephas beyeri