The African Elephant

By Author: peter philp
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African elephants are the largest land animals on Earth. They are slightly larger than their Asian cousins and can be identified by their larger ears that look somewhat like the continent of Africa.
They are native to a wide variety of habitats including semi-desert scrub, open savannas and dense forest regions.

Their habitat ranges from sea level to 16,000 feet (4,877 m). Considered the largest living land animal (weighs up to 5,400kg) the Africa elephants inhabits the Savannah, brush, forest, river valleys, and semi-desert regions of Africa south of the Sahara Desert. Besides its greater size, it differs from the Asian elephant in having larger ears and tusks, a sloping forehead, and two “fingers” at the tip of its trunk, compared to only one in the Asian species.

African elephants are the species of elephants in the genus Loxodonta one of the two existing genera in Elephantidae. Although it is commonly believed that the genus was named by Georges Cuvier in 1825, Cuvier spelled it Loxodonte.

An anonymous author romanized the spelling to Loxodonta and the ICZN recognizes this as the proper ...
... authority.Fossil members of Loxodonta have only been found in Africa, where they developed in the middle Pliocene. Two subspecies are recognized: the savannah (or bush) elephant (Loxodonta africana africana), and the forest elephant (Loxodonta africana cyclotis).

Savannah elephants are larger than forest elephants, and their tusks curve outwards. In addition to being smaller, forest elephants are darker and their tusks are straighter and downward pointing. There are also differences in the size and shape of the skull and skeleton between the two subspecies.

The African forest elephant has a longer and narrower mandible, rounder ears, and different number of toenails, straighter and downward tusks, and considerably smaller size. With regard to the number of toenails: the African bush elephant normally has four toenails on the front foot and three on the hind feet, the African forest elephant normally has five toenails on the front foot and four on the hind foot (like the Asian elephant), but hybrids between the two species commonly occur.

Both male and female African elephants have tusks they use to dig for food and water and strip bark from trees. Males use the tusks to battle one another, but the ivory has also attracted violence of a far more dangerous sort.Because ivory is so valuable to some humans, many elephants have been killed for their tusks. This trade is illegal today, but it has not been completely eliminated, and some African elephant populations remain endangered.

Poaching significantly reduced the population of Loxodonta in certain regions during the 20th century. An example of this poaching pressure is in the eastern region of Chad -elephant herds there were substantial as recently as 1970, with an estimated population of 400,000; however, by 2006 the number had dwindled to about 10,000. The African elephant nominally has governmental protection, but poaching is still a serious issue.

African elephants are capable of making a wide variety of vocal sounds, such as grunts, purrs, bellows, whistles, and the obvious trumpeting. Elephants and people have always had an interesting relationship.In the savannah subspecies, each family unit usually contains about 10 individuals, although several family units may join together to form a ‘clan’ consisting of up to 70 members led by a female. Forest elephants live in smaller family units.

These hungry animals do not sleep much, and they roam over great distances while foraging for the large quantities of food that they require to sustain their massive bodies.Despite their great weight, which in African elephants reaches 15,400 pounds and in Indian elephants reaches 11,000 pounds, elephants walk almost noiselessly and with exceptional grace, their columnar legs keeping their bulk moving forward in smooth, rhythmic strides.

A thick cushion of resilient tissue grows on the base of the foot, absorbing the shock of the weight and enabling the animal to walk high on its hoof-like toes. Elephants normally walk about 4 mph and can charge at up to 25 mph.

BIO

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