African elephant
AFRICAN ELEPHANT - a mammal of the elephant family of the order Proboscis, lives only in regions of Africa, the largest of modern land animals.
"Thick-skinned elephant" is not entirely true for these animals. The skin of elephants, with the exception of the back and sides where it can reach 2-3 centimeters, is very sensitive and especially sensitive to the sun.
This is why mother elephants often cover their babies with their shadow.
And also for the same reason, elephants cover themselves with mud.
There are two subspecies African elephants: savannah or bush elephant - common in Eastern, Southern and partly Equatorial Africa and forest elephant - common in the tropical rain forests of Western and Equatorial Africa.
The weight of old males reaches 7.5 tons, and the height at the shoulders is 4 meters (on average, males weigh 5 tons, females - 3 tons). Despite its massive build, the elephant is amazingly agile, easy to move, and fast without haste.
The elephant swims beautifully, with only the forehead and the tip of the trunk remaining above the surface of the water.
No one has yet decided to claim that elephants’ trunks evolved to breathe underwater.
The ancestors of elephants led an aquatic lifestyle. Analysis of the tooth enamel of fossil representatives of proboscideans showed that they fed on aquatic plants.
The elephant overcomes the steep climb without any visible effort and feels free among the rocks.
An amazing sight - a herd of elephants in the forest. Absolutely silently, the animals literally cut through dense thickets: no crackling, no rustling, no movement of branches and foliage.
With an even, apparently unhurried step, the elephant overcomes enormous distances in search of food or, escaping from danger, covering tens of kilometers per night. No wonder it is considered useless to pursue a disturbed herd of elephants.
The African elephant inhabits a vast area south of the Sahara. In ancient times it was found in North Africa, but has now completely disappeared from there.
Despite their wide distribution area, it is not easy to meet elephants: in large quantities they are now only found in national parks.
Many African countries that historically had elephants now have no elephants at all.
The usual composition of an elephant herd is 9-12 old, young and very small animals. As a rule, there is a leader in the herd, most often an old elephant.
The elephant herd is a very close-knit community. The animals get to know each other well and work together to protect their young. There are cases when elephants provided assistance to their wounded brothers, leading them away from a dangerous place.
Fights between elephants are rare. Only animals suffering from some kind of pain, for example with a broken tusk, become uncooperative and irritable. Usually such elephants move away from the herd. It is true that it is not known whether they themselves prefer solitude or whether they are driven out by healthy companions.
An elephant with a broken tusk is also dangerous for people. No wonder the first commandment that visitors need to know is national parks, reads: “Do not leave the car! Don't cross the path of a herd of elephants! Do not approach lone elephants, especially those with a broken tusk!” And this is not without reason: the elephant is the only animal that can easily go on the attack and overturn a car. At one time, ivory hunters often died under the feet of wounded giants.
Apart from humans, the elephant has almost no enemies. The rhinoceros, the second giant of Africa, is in a hurry to give way to the elephant, and if it comes to a collision, it is always defeated.
Of the elephant's sense organs, smell and hearing are the most developed.
An alert elephant is an unforgettable sight: the huge sails of the ears are spread wide, the trunk is raised up and moves from side to side, trying to catch a breath of wind, there is both tension and threat in the whole figure.
An attacking elephant flattens its ears and hides its trunk behind its tusks, which the animal brings forward with a sharp movement.
The elephant's voice is a shrill, shrill sound, simultaneously reminiscent of a hoarse horn and the grinding of car brakes.
Reproduction in elephants is not associated with a specific season. Pregnancy lasts 22 months. Typically, females give birth to cubs once every 4 years.
A newborn elephant calf weighs about 100 kilograms and is about 1 meter tall; it has a short trunk and no tusks.
Until the age of five, he needs the constant supervision of a female elephant and cannot live independently.
Elephants mature at the age of 15 and live in the wild for 70 years.
The African elephant is one of the unluckiest animals. Its tusks, the so-called ivory, have long been valued at almost their weight in gold.
Until Europeans came to Africa with firearms, relatively few elephants were hunted - hunting was very difficult and dangerous. But the flow of lovers of easy money who flocked to Africa at the end of the last century changed the situation dramatically. Elephants were killed, their tusks were broken off, and huge corpses were left for hyenas and vultures. And tens, hundreds of thousands of these corpses rotted among the forests and savannas of Africa, and enterprising adventurers made great profits.
Both males and females of the African elephant are armed with tusks. The tusks of females are small, and the tusks of old males sometimes reached a length of 3-3.5 meters with a mass of about 100 kilograms each (the record pair of tusks had a length of 4.1 meters and a weight of 225 kilograms).
True, on average, each tusk yielded only about 6-7 kilograms of ivory, since hunters killed all the elephants in a row - males and females, young and old.
Passed through the ports of Europe great amount Ivory. By 1880, when the ivory trade reached its apogee, from 60,000 to 70,000 elephants were killed annually, but already in 1913 - 10,000 elephants, in 1920-1928 - 6,000.Elephants were becoming rare. First of all, they were killed in the savannahs. Elephants are best preserved in inaccessible swamps along the Upper Nile and Congo valleys, where the road to humans was closed by nature.About 50 years ago, uncontrolled hunting of elephants was officially stopped, a network of national parks was created, and the African elephant was preserved.
There is not much space left for him on earth - he can only feel calm in national parks. The reserve regime has had a beneficial effect on elephants. The numbers began to grow, and now there are about 250,000 elephants in Africa (perhaps even more than 100 years ago).
In parallel with the growth of the population, the concentration of animals in limited areas of the territory increased. For example, in the Kruger National Park in 1898 there were only 10 elephants, in 1931 - 135 elephants, in 1958 - 995 elephants, in 1964 -2374 elephants, currently several tens of thousands of elephants live there!
This overpopulation posed a new serious threat to elephants, and the “elephant problem” in national parks became the number one problem. The fact is that an adult elephant eats up to 100 kilograms of grass, fresh shoots of bushes or tree branches per day. It is estimated that vegetation from an area of about 5 square kilometers is needed to feed one elephant for a year.
When feeding, elephants often cut down trees to get to the upper branches, and often tear off the bark from the trunks.
However, in the past, herds of elephants migrated over many hundreds of kilometers, and vegetation damaged by elephants had time to recover.
Now the mobility of elephants is sharply limited, and they are forced to feed - on an elephant scale - “on a patch.”
So, in Tsavo Park ( East Africa) each elephant covers only about 1 square kilometer. And in Queen Eliza Bet National Park there are an average of 7 elephants, 40 hippos, 10 buffalo and 8 waterbuck per square mile (2.59 square kilometers). With such a load, the animals begin to starve, and in some places it is necessary to resort to artificial feeding (elephants receive oranges as an additional ration).
Many national parks are surrounded by wire fences, through which a weak current is passed, otherwise elephants can destroy the surrounding plantations.
All this points to the need to reduce the number of elephants. Therefore in last years Planned shooting of elephants has also begun in national parks.
The number of elephants is being reduced by destroying artificial reservoirs that were once specially built in the dry areas of some national parks. It is expected that the elephants, deprived of a watering hole, will leave the park. And they know the boundaries of the protected area very well and at the slightest alarm they rush beyond the saving line. Having stepped over it, they stop and look with curiosity at the unlucky pursuer.
The elephant is a very valuable animal in economic terms. In addition to the tusks, meat, skin, bones and even a tuft of coarse hair at the end of the tail are utilized.The meat is used for food by the local population in fresh and dried form.Bone meal is made from bones.
The ears are used to make tables of sorts, and the legs are used to make waste baskets or stools.Such “exotic” goods are in constant demand among tourists.Africans use the stiff, wire-like tail hairs to weave beautiful bracelets, which, according to local beliefs, bring good luck to the owner.Elephants attract tourists from other countries. No elephants African savanna I would lose half the charm.
Indeed, there is something attractive about elephants. Are the animals walking leisurely across the plain, cutting through the thick tall grass like ships; do they feed on the edge of the forest, among the bushes; whether they drink by the river, lined up in a straight line; whether they are resting motionless in the shade of trees - in their entire appearance, in their manner, one can feel deep calm, dignity, hidden power.
And you involuntarily become imbued with respect and sympathy for these giants, witnesses of bygone eras.
At the very beginning of the 20th century, work began on domesticating the African elephant in the Belgian Congo. The work continued for several decades and met with some success.
The elephant is a unique animal. Its difference from other mammals is so great that scientists have assigned it to a separate order - proboscis, which contains only 2 species.
The main thing you immediately notice is huge size elephant. This is the largest living animal on Earth.
Now only two species of elephants remain in nature: African and Indian.
Many people wonder: how much does an elephant weigh?
The height of the Indian elephant from the ground to the withers is approximately 2-2.5 meters, and the weight ranges from 3 to 5 tons.
The African elephant is much larger than its relative. It weighs 6-7 tons, and its height reaches 4 meters. There are also larger African elephants - real giants, with a body weight of 10-11 tons.
Description
Elephants have a very massive body, a fairly large head, and thick and powerful legs. Ears reach impressive size, but the eyes, on the contrary, are small.
Ears help animals hot weather. Fanning themselves with them achieves a cooling effect.
Elephants have excellent hearing, but their vision over long distances is not very good.
Elephants have no hair; the body of the animal is covered with gray or brown skin, up to 2.5 cm thick, with deep wrinkles. Baby elephants are born with sparse bristles, while adults have none at all.
Another difference between an elephant is its inability to jump. It's all about the leg, which has 2 kneecaps. Despite their enormous weight, elephants move almost silently.
The reason for this is the fat pad located in the center of the foot, which springs back with each step of the animal.
And finally, the elephant's trunk. This organ is formed by the fusion of the nose and upper lip, consists of tendons and many muscles that make it both very strong and flexible. It reaches a length of up to 1.5 meters and weighs approximately 150 kg.
The trunk performs several important functions at once. With its help, elephants eat food, pour water on themselves and communicate with each other, and also raise their cubs!
There are tusks on both sides of the trunk. They continue to grow throughout their lives, so it is not difficult to determine the age of the animal by looking at the tusks.
The larger and more powerful the tusks, the older the elephant. Average duration The life of an elephant is about 70 years.
Elephants are excellent swimmers who love water procedures. They also run quite quickly over short distances. Running speed can reach 45-50 kilometers per hour.
With its tail, the tip of which is framed by coarse hair, the animal drives away annoying insects.
According to its size, the elephant drinks and eats a lot, eating up to 300 kg of vegetation per day and drinking from 100 to 300 liters of water. Elephants eat food for about 2/3 of their lives.
Their diet is quite large: leaves and bark of trees, grass, a variety of fruits and vegetables, corn, sweet potatoes and other agricultural land.
Elephants also love bread, bran, oats and boiled potatoes.
Elephant breeding
Elephants are very friendly animals. They usually form a family, which includes the main female, as well as her daughters, sisters and males who have not yet reached sexual maturity.
It must be said that elephants in a family are connected by real family relations. They always help and take care of each other.
Usually puberty female elephants mature by the age of 12, and by the age of 15-16 they are quite ready to bear offspring. Males leave the family at the age of 15-20 years and lead single image life, but for the rest of their lives they maintain contact with their relatives, sometimes visiting them.
Animal reproduction occurs at any time of the year. When the female is ready to mate, the male senses it and approaches the herd.
In normal times, male elephants are quite friendly to each other. But during the mating period, they arrange fights, and only the winner is allowed to the female.
Pregnancy in female elephants lasts a very long time - from 20 to 22 months. Childbirth takes place surrounded by family. The females of the herd help the woman in labor, surrounding and protecting her from any danger.
Most often, one baby elephant is born, rarely twins. The cub stands on its legs 2-3 hours after birth and feeds on its mother’s milk.
After a few days, the baby travels everywhere with the herd, grabbing his mother by the tail. It should be noted that all lactating females take part in feeding the baby.
Elephants are fed milk until they are one and a half to two years old. After six months, plant foods are added to the milk.
Like humans, elephants are right-handed and left-handed, depending on which one of the elephant's tusks is used more than the other.
Elephants do not sweat because they do not have sebaceous glands. However, they are able to lower body temperature by dousing them with water and fanning their ears.
Elephants are easy to train and train. In ancient times they were often used in battles and as labor.
Adult elephants have practically no enemies among animals. But cubs should be wary of lions and crocodiles. However, adult elephants always care for and protect their offspring.
The only and most big enemies are poachers, whose fishing has led to a sharp decrease in the population of these animals.
Elephants are patient even with the mistreatment of their owners. However, prolonged stress often leads to nervous breakdown. Then the animal literally goes berserk and begins to destroy everything in its vicinity.
Elephants occupy one of the first places among the most intelligent animals on our planet. They have an excellent memory, remember the insults and troubles that a person caused them, as well as the places of significant events.
Elephants have strategic thinking. In Thailand, a whole “gang” of elephants has appeared, lying in wait for trucks passing through national park, and carrying fruit from them. Hobbyists even managed to get photos of elephants stealing fruit from a truck.
Scientists conducted a study and found that elephants sleep the least of all mammals. According to biologists studying this topic, two hours of sleep a day is enough for elephants to maintain normal life. Despite this, the animals do not suffer from lack of sleep or fatigue.
Photos of elephants
Elephants are the largest land-dwelling mammals. The largest animals live in Africa. Their weight can reach 12 tons, their height is more than three meters, and their body length is more than 7 meters.
One of the main features of an elephant is long trunk, which is a fused upper lip with the nose. The trunk is a universal organ that allows the elephant to get food, collect water for drinking and bathing, lift and carry various items, and also helps to capture odors.
Another feature of elephants is their large ears. Elephants' ears perform a thermoregulatory function. They are permeated with a dense network blood vessels, and when the blood passes through these vessels, it cools, and then returns to other organs and cools them. Elephants have very good hearing, they are even able to distinguish some melodies.
Spreading
Elephants live on African continent in savannas, as well as in the south-eastern part of Asia, preferring tropical rainforests.
Nutrition
Elephants are herbivores. They feed on leaves, grass, various fruits and tree bark. In a day, an adult elephant eats up to 300 kg of grass and leaves and drinks about 300 liters of water.
In captivity, the diet of elephants is more varied. They readily eat fruits, vegetables and root vegetables, enjoy bread and cookies, and are very fond of candy. However, an excess of sweets is harmful for elephants - they gain excess weight and become inactive.
Lifestyle
Elephants live in groups because they are social animals. The group usually consists of an experienced adult female, who is the head of the group, several younger females and their cubs. Male elephants live in their own separate herds, and only sometimes do they join a group of females.
A female usually gives birth to one calf. Its weight can range from 60 to almost 100 kg. The baby elephant remains next to its mother for about five years, all this time it feeds on her milk and only at the age of five it switches to the usual food for elephants. Throughout her life, a female elephant gives birth to 5 to 12 calves. One elephant can be followed by two baby elephants of different ages at once.
Elephants usually move slowly, but if necessary they can reach speeds of up to 40 km/h. Elephants are good swimmers and can swim quite long distances. They love water very much and often give themselves a shower, dousing themselves with their trunk.
Elephants are very talkative - they can roar, trumpet and even squeal. These animals are capable of making sounds so powerful that they can be heard at a distance of about 10 km.
IN good conditions elephants can live up to 60 years.
Elephants cannot jump.
Brief information about the elephant.
Elephants, general characteristics
The word "elephant" comes from the Greek word eléfas, meaning "elephant" or "ivory". Elephants are the largest land animals on earth. They also have the largest brains. Elephants developed during the Pleistocene era, that is, from two million to 10 thousand years ago. They belong to family Elephantidae which consists of three species: forest elephant, savannah elephant and asian elephant. The forest and savannah elephants are generally known as African elephants, while the Asian elephant is known as the Indian elephant.
Interesting facts about elephants
Most characteristic feature elephants is their elongated "trunk", which is the fusion of the nose with the upper lip. Sometimes the elephant trunk is described as having a long nose (up to 2.5 meters). It was found that the elephant's trunk has more than 40,000 muscles. The trunk is used for various purposes such as feeding, drinking, protection, interacting with other elephants, and also as a sense organ.
The “tusk” or “ivory,” which is another feature of the elephant, is nothing more than the second upper incisor, which is constantly growing. This is one of the hereditary characteristics of elephants. Elephant may have a tusk on both the right and left. The tusks are primarily used as weapons. The tusks of African elephants can grow up to 10 meters in length and can weigh up to 90 kilograms, while the tusks of Asian elephants vary depending on gender; Females have short or absent tusks, while males have thin tusks that can reach three meters and weigh about 40 kilograms.
African elephants are much larger in size, have two finger-like projections in their trunk, have a flat forehead, big ears and tusks, and in comparison, asian elephants smaller in size, have only one finger-like projection in the trunk, have two bumps on the forehead, small ears and tusks.
An elephant's skin is about 2.5 cm thick and covered with light-colored hair, the color of the coat varies from gray to brown. Typically, the fur turns brown due to the fact that the elephant rolls around in dust and dirt. Elephants usually roll in the mud to generate heat and also provide protection from harmful rays and insects. African elephants use their ears for ventilation to maintain their temperature.
Elephants are herbivores and eat approximately 5% of their body weight. They spend about 16 hours a day eating, but only 40% of the food they eat is digested. They drink about 30-50 liters of water.
An interesting phenomenon is the alternation of teeth. An elephant can have 28 teeth in its entire life, two of which are milk precursors of tusks, two second teeth are upper incisors, that is, canines, 12 premolars and 12 molars.
Females reach maturity at 11 years of age and remain in herds with other adult females, while males reach maturity between 12 and 15 years of age and remain solitary. An adult female elephant is called a "cow" and adult male elephants are called "bulls". Sexual traits are not that different for males and females, and they are often confused during the identification process. The male has internal testicles that cannot be seen, while the females have two nipples between their front legs. Females are usually identified by a distinct forehead, which males lack.
The male and female mate at the age of 20 years. Before mating, the male elephant secretes odorous urine, which attracts suitable females. Sometimes they communicate by humming to mate.
Do you know anything about elephant pregnancy? The gestation period is 22 months, the longest period of any existing land animal. The female gives birth to one cub (very rarely twins can be born). The cub is born almost blind. He uses his trunk to explore his surroundings and relies on older comrades from his group. At birth, a baby elephant weighs about 100-120 kilograms and its height is about 76 centimeters. The baby elephant has been living with its mother for many years.
Elephants are associated with many cultures. Asian cultures represent the elephant as a symbol of "wisdom", especially due to their memory and intelligence. They are considered very sociable, emotional and intellectual. The entire herd cares for the young and protects them from danger. Often they mourn when a member of their group dies.
An elephant can live up to 60-70 years. However, the oldest recorded elephant was 82 years old.
These are some Interesting Facts about elephants. In fact, elephants are very gentle creatures and they do not have natural enemies. But despite their calm and non-alarming nature, it is very sad that elephants are classified as “endangered animals” due to their declining population. Both African and Asian elephants are listed as endangered. The main reason decreasing their numbers is habitat loss due to humans and poaching for ivory and flesh. Security wildlife passed the African Elephant Protection Act in 1989 and the Asian Elephant Protection Act in 1997 to preserve the natural habitat and protect elephants. Strict laws have virtually stopped the elephant trade.
Elephants are large mammals, of which there are two species: African and Indian. Mammoths used to live on Earth (they became extinct in glacial period) and mastodons (extinct during the period of the first appearance of man on the North American continent). In this article we will answer the question: “Where do elephants live?” and consider their habitat and habits.
Differences between Indian and African elephants
Despite the apparent 100% similarity in appearance, Indian and African elephants have many differences. Let's take a closer look at them.
- African elephants are superior to their Indian relatives in size and weight. The height of an adult animal living in Africa reaches 3.7 meters and weighs 6.5 tons. For comparison, for Indian relatives these figures are 3.5 meters and 5 tons.
- African elephants have larger ears, with veins clearly visible through their thin skin. It is noteworthy that each individual has a different pattern of veins on its ears, just like people have fingerprints.
- Distinctive feature African elephants are considered to have long, strong tusks in every animal, regardless of gender. Among Indian elephants, only males have this decoration. Tusks grow throughout life and act as an indicator of age.
- The Indian elephant is calmer. Thanks to simple training, he becomes a reliable assistant to a person. He is trained to transport trees, lay planks, or retrieve objects from rivers.
These are not all the interesting facts about these animals. The following information will be useful to schoolchildren who want to get the maximum score for the Unified State Exam. Among the elephants there are “left-handed” and “right-handed”. Belonging to a certain category is determined by which tusk is shorter. These animals work with one tusk, as a result of which it wears out faster.
Elephant bone is expensive as an ornamental base, so they often die at the hands of poachers. Now the trade in ivory has been banned, but still hundreds of these amazing animals die every year due to human fault.
Elephants have 4 molars. The weight of each tooth the size of a brick reaches 2-3 kilograms. Animals replace their molars 6 times during their life. With age, tooth sensitivity increases, which forces animals to stay closer to swampy areas with soft vegetation.
The elephant differs from other animals in its impressive body weight, design, behavior and presence long nose. The trunk is the connection between the upper lip and nose, with which it showers, breathes, smells, drinks and makes sounds. With this organ, containing 100 thousand muscles, the animal takes objects weighing up to a ton and carries tens of kilometers.
Elephant habitat and habits
African giant lives in the steppes of Africa and Egypt. Indian individuals live in India, Ceylon, Indochina, and Burma.
- Elephants live in a herd of up to 50 individuals, which are bound by behavioral norms. Some live separately because they are more likely to show aggression and are dangerous.
- There is a friendly atmosphere in the herd, relatives take care of the offspring and support each other.
- These are socially developed animals. They can show emotions and remember objects, places and people.
Elephants eat 130 kg of food per day (leaves, bark, fruits) and most They spend time searching for it. Sleep no more than 4 hours a day. Animals are often located near rivers or lakes and drink 200 liters of water per day. The elephant is a good swimmer and easily swims long distances regardless of body weight.
The giant has a massive skeleton, making up 15% of its body weight. Skin covering reaches a thickness of 25 mm and is shrouded in sparse hairs. On average, an elephant lives 70 years. He cannot jump, but his running speed reaches 30 km per hour.
The female carries the baby for 88 weeks. This is a record among animals. A baby elephant is born every four years, weighing about 90 kg and measuring about a meter in height. The birth of a baby is important for members of the herd.
These mammals have a clear language of communication. When an elephant is depressed or aggressive, the ears become spread apart. For protection, tusks, trunk and massive legs are used. In a moment of danger or fright, the animal squeals and, running away, literally demolishes everything in its path.
Where do elephants live in captivity?
Almost every zoo has elephants. It is not surprising, because they arouse special interest among the public. But sometimes even well-known zoos, due to the lack of a suitable place to keep them, refuse these animals.
Elephants suffer from boredom in confined spaces. IN natural environment they spend a lot of time searching for and absorbing food. In a small enclosure you can’t wander around to your heart’s content, and a small number of individuals leads to disturbances social contacts.
European zoos are trying to provide elephants with spacious pens for walking. Less docile males, who are dangerous in a state of turmoil, are given additional space. Some zoos provide pens for females with their offspring. This allows members of the small herd to get to know the new addition.
Great value Diversity of range plays a role in elephant breeding. Large elephant herds set up enclosures so that animals can move freely. Such conditions are more suitable for successful breeding captive.
Elephants are socially developed mammals. For many reasons, this species is on the verge of extinction. Animals need protection and protection. This fact found a lot positive feedback among scientists and officials. Nature reserves are being actively created where animals live under protection. The territory of such complexes must correspond to the normal habitat. On this moment Several reserves meet these requirements, including:
- National Park Bandipur, India.
- Amboseli National Park, Kenya.
- Elephant Sanctuary in Knysna, South Africa.
- Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary, Malaysia.
- Elephant Safari Park, Bali.
Each of the listed places is ideal for entertaining summer holiday.
People harm environment, therefore, many species of animals are dying out, but there remains hope that some of the most large mammals– elephants will continue to live not only in captivity, but also in their native environment. The task of man is to help ensure that children can enjoy the greatness of these animals in the vastness of the savannah and forests.
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