 The bovid ancestors of the eland evolved approximately 20 million years ago in Africa; fossils are found throughout Africa and France but the best record appears in sub-Saharan Africa.The first members of the tribe Tragelaphini appear 6 million years in the past during the late Miocene.An extinct ancestor of the common eland ("Taurotragus arkelli") appears in the Pleistocene in northern Tanzania and the first "T. oryx" fossil appears in the Holocene in Algeria.