Browsing Elephant (IMAGE) University of Utah Caption An African elephant browses on leaves of an acacia tree. Modern elephants eat mostly tree leaves and shrubs, but a new University of Utah study shows that they once ate a diet of mostly warm-season grasses, starting about 7.4 million years ago. The study used fossilized teeth to reconstruct the dietary history of east African plant-eaters from 10 million to 3 million years ago, showing that different animals switched at different times from a salad-bar diet of trees and shrubs to a diet of warm season grasses. Credit Kevin Uno, University of Utah Usage Restrictions None License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.