The African savanna elephant is a representative of the order Proboscis, the elephant family. Exactly this large mammal our time. Latin name species - Loxodonta africana. Let's get to know this amazing animal better.
The African elephant now has a limited distribution area - the southern and western parts of the African continent after the Sahara Desert. Previously, this giant inhabited North Africa, but subsequently became extinct.
Where does the elephant live
Now the animals have a discontinuous range, especially in the western part of the continent and are mainly concentrated V national parks and other protected areas. The number of the species is declining; now the animals are completely extinct in the Gambia, Burundi, Mauritania, and total area settlement decreased almost 6 times: from 30 to just over 5 million km 2 .
You can most often find an elephant in the savannas, in the following African countries:
Arid deserts and impassable rainforests the giant tries to avoid.
Description of appearance
The following distinctive features will help you recognize a savannah elephant:
- Heavy massive body about 7–7.5 meters long, height – 2.5–3.5 meters ( highest point body).
- Average weight: male about 5 tons, female - 2.7 tons.
- Short neck.
- Big head.
- Barrel-shaped limbs.
- Impressive size ears up to 1.5 m long.
- Wrinkled skin up to 4 cm thick dark gray.
- In young elephants, one can observe hair on the body, which is gradually wiped off; in old elephants, only a black tassel on the tail remains.
- The tail is more than a meter long, the number of caudal vertebrae is up to 26.
- On hind limbs there are 5 hooves, the front ones have 4–5.
- Under the skin of the sole there is a springy mass, a kind of fat pad, which makes the giant’s gait almost silent and allows him to move through swampy lowlands.
- Powerful tusks. The older the animal, the longer they are. An adult animal can reach 2.5 meters in length and weigh 60 kg.
- A brush of coarse hair at the tip of the tail helps the animal ward off intrusive insects.
- Large molars. Each size is about 30 cm, weight is more than 3.5 kg. However, with age they wear out, and by the age of 70 they can no longer chew food, so the animal dies of exhaustion.
- Average duration The lifespan of an African elephant is about 70 years.
The trunk is long and muscular, about one and a half meters long and weighing more than 130 kg. Represents fused upper lip and nose, and ends in two processes, ventral and dorsal. It is a very mobile and strong organ due to complex system tendons and muscles. Here are a few more numbers:
Giant ears are an adaptation for survival in arid climates. They not only play the role of a fan, but also due to impressive area and excellent blood supply give the animal the opportunity to get rid of excess heat.
Like human fingerprints, the pattern of veins on the surface of the ears is unique and can be used to identify an animal.
The skin of African elephants is very sensitive to scorching sun rays and insect bites, so animals have to constantly take dust and mud baths to protect it.
Lifestyle
Savannah elephants prefer to live in small families, headed by a female - animals recognize matriarchy. Also, to the elephant family includes the eldest daughters of the main female with offspring and immature individuals - both males and females. As you can see, sexually mature males are not included in the family.
As soon as the male reaches 10–12 years of age, he is expelled from the herd. At first, many individuals move behind the mother herd at some distance, but gradually get used to single image life or form men's companies.
Elephants have an excellent sense of smell and acute hearing, but very poor eyesight. Despite the fact that elephants are land animals, they can swim and love to splash in the water.
How do elephants communicate? They can make trumpet sounds so loud that they can be heard several kilometers away. or use language touches. Elephants often make a drawn-out trumpet sound over the corpse of a dead relative.
African elephants spend most of their day roaming in search of food, Not favorable conditions families can unite into herds.
Adult elephants prefer to sleep standing up, while it is quite difficult for older individuals to get comfortable due to impressive tusks, that's why you have to put them on a termite mound or lean on the branches of a tree. Baby elephants will sleep lying on the ground for a while.
Nutrition
What does an elephant eat? African elephants are herbivores; they eat leaves, tree bark, shoots, and roots. Elderly elephants They prefer soft marsh greens, which even the animal’s teeth, which have lost their sharpness, can cope with.
The constant availability of water is very important for these giants, because they drink at least 10 liters per day.
During periods of drought, elephants line up at watering holes according to seniority to quench their thirst.
The appetite of this giant is impressive - the animal eats about 300 kg per day! Animals often destroy plantations, causing serious damage agriculture. They obtain food using a flexible trunk and tusks, and chew with their molars.
Reproduction
As a rule, African elephants give birth to offspring in the second half of the rainy season. During the drought period, the sexual activity of animals is reduced, and females do not ovulate.
To find a female, the male can move across the savannah for several weeks.
The pregnancy of elephants is quite long - from 20 to 2 months, one calf is born, cases birth of twins Very few were recorded. The baby appears about a meter tall, weighing 100–120 kg, without tusks and with a small proboscis.
The process of childbirth itself is also interesting: the woman in labor moves away from the herd, but is accompanied by a midwife. A newborn elephant calf rises to its feet within 15 minutes after birth, but will stay with mother up to 4 years. At the same time, the young females of the herd will surround him with care and attention, as if playing the role of nannies. The elephant continues to feed the baby milk until he reaches 2–5 years of age, but from the second year the elephant calf can already take solid food. It is interesting that the mother elephant teaches her child to use her trunk: at first the baby is completely unsuited to this and often steps on her own trunk.
Childbirth occurs once every 3–9 years, and until the birth of the next baby, the elephant calf remains with the mother.
Females are ready to mate after reaching 7 years of age, but when living in unfavorable conditions this time may be shifted up to 19 or even 22 years old. Fertility lasts up to 60 years, one female can bear up to 9 cubs in her life.
Males become ready to breed at 10–12 years of age, but rarely start before 25, since competition from older individuals is very strong. From 25 years old males occasionally fall into a state of must, the level of testosterone in their blood increases more than 50 times, causing the animals to become active and aggressive.
Unfortunately, just recently there were fewer and fewer people in the world every year. African giants. There are several reasons for this:
- Desertification of lands.
- The destruction of elephants by humans for the sake of obtaining bones. Even now, despite protective measures, poachers manage to ruthlessly destroy savannah elephants.
- The rapid growth of population and cities is displacing animals that have been inhabited for centuries.
Development Agriculture, human development of land is making the area suitable for African elephants to live smaller and smaller. Now these animals are under protection and live in national parks and reserves, so their complete extinction was avoided and even their numbers stabilized. IN in some cases it is even necessary to curb population growth through sterilization, reducing the number of reservoirs and relocating individual individuals to other protected areas.
The role of the African elephant in people's lives
Previously savannah elephants were used as game animals, producing ivory and skin. Various parts of the body were used: meat was dried, stools were made from legs, and jewelry was woven from hair from tassels. Tusks were used for making keys piano. In the mid-19th and 20th centuries, up to 100 thousand elephants died annually at the hands of humans. However, due to a sharp decline in numbers, the animals were taken under protection and their shooting was prohibited.
Now African elephants are often used as an object of ecotourism - people travel from all over the world to see the life of these amazing creatures V wildlife.
In conclusion, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with some fascinating facts about African elephants:
- Among them, as among people, there are left-handers and right-handers, which can be determined by which tusk the elephant uses more often.
- The animal has practically no enemies in nature; crocodiles and lions are dangerous only for children. And only man became the real enemy of the giants.
- Due to the absence of sebaceous glands, elephants do not sweat. And by wagging their ears, they can lower their body temperature.
- These animals are highly trainable and can be used as labor.
- Elephants have a good memory, they are one of the smartest mammals peace, they are able to be sad and happy, to suffer when they lose loved ones.
The savannah elephant is a true giant in the world of mammals, living on the African continent. This amazing animal suffered from man, but it was with his help that it was saved from extinction. The elephant is now safe, but lives mostly in protected areas.
Elephants are the largest land mammals on our planet. The most known species The elephant families are African and Asian (Indian) elephants. They live on different continents, but lead almost the same lifestyle.
Where do elephants live?
African elephant habitats
Once upon a time African elephants inhabited almost all African continent. The habitat of elephants stretched from north to south of the entire continent. Back in the 6th century AD, the northern elephant population was completely exterminated.
In the 21st century, the African elephant population remained in the southern, western, eastern and central countries Africa, namely: Namibia, Tanzania, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Kenya, South Africa, Mali, Botswana, Ethiopia, Chad, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Zambia, Uganda, Botswana, Niger, Guinea, Ghana, Rwanda , Liberia, Cameroon, Benin, Sierra Leone, Togo, Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic Congo, Sudan, Eritrea, Gabon, Swaziland, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea. Most of the livestock in these countries live in nature reserves and national parks. When elephants leave nature reserves, they often become the prey of poachers. 
African elephants live in different landscapes, avoiding only deserts and tropical forests. The main priorities for choosing places for elephants to live are the following criteria: availability of food resources, water and shade.
Read about the diet of elephants in the article.
Where does the Indian elephant live?
Indian The elephant was distributed throughout South Asia. IN wild environment he lived along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers all the way to the Malay Peninsula. Some herds were even found near the Himalayas and along the Yangtze River in China. In addition to mainland Asia, elephants lived on the islands of Sumatra, Sri Lanka and Java.
Now Asiatic the elephant is found in the wild only partially in North-East and South India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia (Borneo), Nepal, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia (Sumatra), China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Myanmar, Brunei and Laos. 
Elephant- one of the most amazing animals. They not only know a lot, but they can also be sad, worry, bored and even laugh.
IN difficult situations they always come to the aid of their relatives. Elephants have a talent for music and drawing.
Features and habitat of the elephant
Two million years ago, during the Pleistocene period, mammoths and mastodons were widespread throughout the planet. Currently, two species of elephants have been studied: African and Indian.
There is an opinion that this is the most large mammal on the planet. However, it is wrong. The largest is the blue or blue whale, in second place is the sperm whale and only the third place is occupied by the African elephant.
It is truly the largest of all land animals. The second largest land animal after the elephant is the hippopotamus.
At the withers, the African elephant reaches 4 m and weighs up to 7.5 tons. Indian elephant weighs a little smaller – up to 5t, its height – 3m. The mammoth is one of the extinct proboscis animals. The elephant is a sacred animal in India and Thailand.
Pictured is an Indian elephant
According to legend, Buddha's mother had a dream White elephant with a lotus, which predicted the birth of an unusual child. White elephant- a symbol of Buddhism and the embodiment of spiritual wealth. When an albino elephant is born in Thailand, this is a significant event; the King of the state himself takes it under his wing.
These are the largest land mammals that inhabit Southeast Asia. They prefer to settle in savanna areas and tropical forests. It is impossible to meet them only in deserts.
Elephant animal, which is famous for its large tusks. They are used when obtaining food, to clear the road, and to mark the territory. The tusks grow constantly, in adult individuals the growth rate can reach 18 cm per year, old individuals have the largest tusks of approximately 3 meters.
Teeth are constantly worn down, fall out and new ones grow in their place (they change about five times in a lifetime). The price of elephant ivory is very high, which is why the animals are constantly being destroyed.
And although the animals are protected and are even listed as international, there are still poachers who are ready to kill this beautiful animal for profit.
It is very rare to find animals with large tusks, since almost all of them were exterminated. It is noteworthy that in many countries the killing of an elephant entails death penalty.
There is a legend about the existence of separate mysterious cemeteries among elephants, where old and sick animals go to die, since it is very rare to find the tusks of dead animals. However, scientists managed to dispel this legend; it turned out that porcupines feast on tusks, which thus satisfy their mineral hunger.
Elephant is a species of animal, which has one more interesting organ- a trunk reaching seven meters in length. It is formed from upper lip and nose. The trunk contains approximately 100,000 muscles. This organ is used for breathing, drinking and making sounds. It plays an important role when eating food, as a kind of flexible hand.
To grasp small objects, the Indian elephant uses a small appendage on its trunk that resembles a finger. The African representative has two. The trunk serves both for plucking blades of grass and for breaking big trees. With the help of the trunk, animals can take a shower from dirty water.
This is not only pleasant for the animals, but also protects the skin from annoying insects (dirt dries out and forms protective film). Elephant is a group of animals which have very large ears. African elephants have much larger ones than Asian ones. The ears of animals are not only a hearing organ.
Since elephants do not have sebaceous glands, they never sweat. Numerous capillaries piercing the ears in hot weather expand and release excess heat into the atmosphere. In addition, this organ can be fanned.
Elephant- the only thing mammal, which cannot jump or run. They can either just walk or move around briskly, which is equivalent to running. Despite heavy weight, thick skin (about 3 cm) and thick bones, the elephant walks very quietly.
The thing is that the pads on the animal’s foot spring and expand as the load increases, which makes the animal’s gait almost silent. These same pads help elephants move through swampy areas. At first glance, the elephant is a rather clumsy animal, but it can reach speeds of up to 30 km per hour.
Elephants have excellent vision, but use more of their senses of smell, touch and hearing. Long eyelashes are designed to protect against dust. Being good swimmers, animals can swim up to 70 km and stay in the water without touching the bottom for six hours.
The sounds made by elephants using the larynx or trunk can be heard at a distance of 10 km.
Character and lifestyle of an elephant
Wild elephants live in a herd of up to 15 animals, where all individuals are exclusively females and relatives. The head of the herd is the matriarch female. The elephant cannot stand loneliness; it is vital for him to communicate with his relatives; they are loyal to the herd until death.
Members of the herd help and care for each other, raise children conscientiously and protect themselves from danger and help weak members of the family. Male elephants are often solitary animals. They live next to some group of females, less often they form their own herds.
Children live in a group until they are 14 years old. Then they choose: either stay in the herd or create their own. If a fellow tribesman dies, the animal becomes very sad. In addition, they respect the ashes of their relatives, they will never step on them, trying to move them from the path, and they even recognize the bones of relatives among other remains.
Elephants spend no more than four hours sleeping during the day. Animals African elephants sleep standing up. They huddle together and lean on each other. Old elephants lay their large tusks on a termite mound or tree.
Indian elephants spend their sleep lying on the ground. The elephant's brain is quite complex and is second only to whales in structure. It weighs approximately 5 kg. In the animal world, elephant- one of the most intelligent representatives of fauna in the world.
They can recognize themselves in the mirror, which is one of the signs of self-awareness. Only and can boast of this quality. Also, only chimpanzees and elephants use tools.
Observations have shown that the Indian elephant can use a tree branch as a fly swatter. Elephants have excellent memory. They easily remember places they have been and people they have interacted with.
Nutrition
Elephants love to eat. Elephants feed 16 hours a day. They need up to 450 kg various plants daily. An elephant can drink from 100 to 300 liters of water per day, depending on the weather.
In the photo there are elephants at a watering hole
Elephants are herbivores; their diet includes tree roots and bark, grass, and fruits. Animals replenish the lack of salt with the help of licks (salt that has come to the surface of the earth). In captivity, elephants eat grass and hay.
They will never give up apples, bananas, cookies and bread. Excessive love for sweets can lead to health problems, but candies of a wide variety of varieties are the most favorite treat.
Elephant reproduction and lifespan
Within the time frame mating season elephants are not strictly designated. However, it has been observed that during the rainy season, the birth rate of animals increases. During the period of estrus, which lasts no more than two days, the female attracts the male for mating with her cries. They stay together for no more than a few weeks. At this time, the female can move away from the herd.
Interestingly, male elephants can be homosexual. After all, the female mates only once a year, and her pregnancy lasts quite a long time. Males need sexual partners much more often, which leads to same-sex relationships.
After 22 months, usually one cub is born. The birth takes place in the presence of all members of the herd, who are ready to help if necessary. After they are over, the whole family begins to trumpet, shout and announce the increase.
Baby elephants weigh approximately 70 to 113 kg, are about 90 cm tall and are completely toothless. Only at the age of two years do they develop small milk tusks, which will be replaced by molar tusks with age.
A newborn elephant calf needs more than 10 liters of mother's milk per day. Until two years of age, it constitutes the child’s main diet, and little by little the baby begins to eat plants.
They may also feed on their mother's feces to make it easier to digest plant branches and bark. Baby elephants always stay close to their mother, who protects and teaches him. And you have to learn a lot: drink water, move with the herd and control the trunk.
Working with a trunk is a very difficult task, constant training, lifting objects, obtaining food and water, greeting relatives, and so on. The mother elephant and members of the entire herd protect the babies from attacks and.
Animals become independent at the age of six. At 18 years of age, females can give birth. Females give birth to babies approximately once every four years. Males become mature two years later. In the wild, the life expectancy of animals is about 70 years, in captivity - 80 years. The oldest elephant, who died in 2003, lived to be 86 years old.
It's easy to guess that African elephant lives in Africa, almost throughout the continent. It is the largest land animal, reaching a weight of more than 3 tons. The African elephant is quite tall - 4 meters. This type of elephant has quite large and pronounced tusks. Males have large tusks - up to three meters, in females they do not reach even a meter. The trunk of elephants is formed by the fusion of the upper lip and nose. Elephants are herbivorous mammals, preferring grasses, leaves, and branches as food. Elephants live in families of several individuals (the number of individuals is approximately 10-15 in each group). Elephants are very friendly to each other, and peace reigns in their family. Adult elephants carefully guard young elephants, and when a baby is born, the whole family seems to rejoice. The female carries the cub for quite a long time - almost two years. Usually one baby elephant is born. After birth, the cub feeds on mother’s milk for 2 years and only after five years lives independently. Life expectancy of elephants: 50-60 years.
Indian elephant
Habitat: India, Southeast Asia. It is slightly smaller than the African elephant. Compared to the African elephant, the Indian elephant has smaller ears and less pronounced tusks. Some females have no tusks at all. The elephant also eats grass, various fruits. By the way, all elephants feed with the help of their trunk: they take food with their trunk and put it in their mouth. They also drink using their trunk. The Indian elephant is more friendly towards people, so they are captured for circuses and zoos more often than African elephants. Now the population of Indian elephants has sharply declined.
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- Animals of the jungle of Brazil. What animals live in the jungles of Brazil?
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How many species of elephants are there in the world?
African forest elephant
To date, only two species have survived in the elephant family (Familia Elephantidae Sgau): Indian elephants, which are found in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, as well as on the Indochina Peninsula, and African elephants, which zoologists divide into those living in savannas (savanna elephants) and living in tropical forests (forest elephants).
African and Indian elephants differ in body structure
and disposition.
These differences are quite large, and when crossing two elephants different types there are no offspring.
The African elephant is taller than the Indian elephant, its ears are larger, its skin is rougher, its trunk is thinner, the tusks, which both males and females have, are more developed; The weight of males reaches 5 - 7.5 tons, females - 3 - 4 tons.
Indian male elephants weigh 4.5 - 5 tons, females - 3 - 4 tons; Females, as a rule, do not have tusks.
Both African and Indian elephants live in herds.
The basis of the herd is family group of two to five, sometimes more elephants tied family relations(most often this is an old elephant and her offspring of different generations).
« Sense organs and body parts
Nutrition and lifestyle »
Origin of modern elephants
As is known, both species of elephants are descendants of Proboscidea - an ancient animal with a trunk. Elephants living today are descended from two different branches of ancestors that developed in parallel. Both of them developed when dinosaurs dominated the earth. It was then that Moeritheres, tapir-like animals, appeared on the territory of modern Egypt.
This happened in the Paleocene era (65 million years ago).
How many species of elephants live on earth?
The structure of the skull and the arrangement of the teeth of these proboscideans were almost the same as those of the modern elephant, and the four teeth were the harbingers of modern tusks. Another branch was represented by Deinotheriidae, animals that lived in Africa and Eurasia.
Being in favorable conditions, all these animals over the next twenty-six million years spread throughout Africa and Eurasia, and over time, throughout Northern and South America. Different climatic conditions and habitats have led to the emergence various types proboscis
They lived everywhere - from the polar ice cap to the desert, including the tundra, taiga, forests, as well as savannah and swamps. All species, and there were more than three hundred of them, can be divided into four main classes.
Deinotherium lived in the Eocene era (58 million years ago) and was very similar to modern elephants. They were much smaller, had a shorter trunk, and two large tusks curled down and back. This class became extinct 2.5 million years ago.
Gomphotherium lived during the Oligocene era (37 million years ago).
They had an elephant's body, but a vestigial trunk. The teeth were similar to those of modern elephants, but there were also four small tusks, two of which were twisted up and two down. Some had wide, flat jaws that allowed them to scoop up swamp vegetation. Others had significantly smaller jaws, but more developed tusks. This species became extinct approximately 10,000 years ago.
From Gomphotherium in the Miocene-Pleistocene era (10-12 million years ago) Mamutidae (Mammutidae), often called mastodons, evolved.
These animals were almost the same as elephants, but had more powerful body, long tusks and long trunk. They also differed in the location of their teeth. The eyes of mastodons were much smaller, and there was dense hair on the body.
It is assumed that mastodons lived in forests until primitive people did not come to the continent (approximately 18,000 years ago).
Elephantids (Elephantidae) evolved from mastodons in the Pleistocene era (1.6 million years ago) and gave rise to the family Mammuthus, the closest family to prehistoric elephants, the huge woolly mammoths and two lineages of modern elephants: Elephas and Loxodonta. Mammuthus imperator, who lived in the southern part North America, was the largest mammoth: 4.5 meters (15 ft) at the withers.
The northern woolly mammoth, Mammus primigehius, lived in northern North America and Eurasia. Its numbers were enormous.
This species is the most studied, as several whole frozen individuals have been found, which are still stored in this form to this day.
Woolly mammoths were slightly larger than modern elephants and protected themselves from the cold with long, dense, reddish fur and a 76 millimeter (3 in) thick layer of fat under their skin.
Their long tusks were curled downwards, forwards and inwards and served to tear apart the snow covering the vegetation. The African and Indian elephant are all that remain today of their many ancestors.
Information sent by: Malyakina Z. E. MGAVMiB im. K.I. Scriabin.
Types of elephants
Of these two species, African elephants are further divided into two species (savannah and forest), while Asian elephant divided into four types (Sri Lankan, Indian, Sumartan and Borneo).
Elephants, like people, are capable of change, and change depending on their character, emotions and personal qualities ( individual characteristics). Asian elephants were very important to Asian culture for thousands of years - they have been domesticated and are now used as vehicle in difficult terrain, for carrying heavy objects such as logs, and at festivals and the circus.
Currently, the Indian elephant is the largest, it has longer front legs and more thin body than its Thai counterparts. We will dwell in more detail on Thai elephants, although of course these characteristics apply to all types of Asian Elephants. Let's pay attention to some small details. Using our own experience and taking into account information from numerous other sources, we will tell you our own interpretation.
Asian elephants
About half of them are domesticated, the rest live in the wild in National Parks and Reserves. Around 300 are suffering in Bangkok's deplorable conditions. It is known that at the beginning of the 20th century (1900 AD) more than 100,000 elephants lived in Siam (Thai) rural areas. Asian elephants are smaller than African ones.
How many species of elephants are there in the world?
They have smaller ears, and only males have tusks.
The first species is the Sri Lankan elephant (Elephas maximus maximus). They live on the island of Sri Lanka. A large male can reach 5,400 kg (12,000 lb) and be over 3.4 m (11 ft) tall. Sri Lankan males have very convex skulls.
Their head, trunk and belly are usually bright pink.
Another species, the Indian Elephant (Elephas maximus indicus) makes up most number of Asian elephants. There are about 36,000 of them, they are light gray, with depigmentation only on the ears and trunk. A large male averages only 5,000 kg (11,000 lb), but they are still as tall as the Sri Lankan.
Indian elephants meet at eleven Asian countries, from India to Indonesia. They prefer forests and areas between forests and fields where they have access to more variety food.
The smallest group of elephants is the Sumartan elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus). There are only 2100 - 3000 individuals. They are a very light gray color with pink only on the ears. A mature Sumartan elephant reaches only 1.7-2.6 m (5.6-8.5 ft) in height and weighs less than 3,000 kg (6,600 lb).
Although it is, of course, a huge animal in any case, the Sumartan elephant is nevertheless much smaller than any other Asian (and African) and exists only on the island of Sumatra, usually in forests and groves.
In 2003, another species of elephant was discovered on the island of Borneo. They were called Dwarf elephants Borneo, they are smaller and calmer, more docile than other Asian elephants.
They have relatively large ears, more a long tail and straighter fangs.
African elephants
Elephants of the genus Loxodonta, known as African elephants, are currently found in 37 countries in Africa. The African elephant is the largest living land animal. It is characterized by a massive heavy body, big head on short neck, thick limbs, huge ears and a long muscular trunk.
The most striking difference from Asian ones is the ears. Africans have them much larger and are shaped like the continent of their origin.
Both males and females African elephants have tusks and are usually less hairy than their Asian counterparts. Tusks grow throughout an elephant's life and serve as an indicator of its age. Historically, African elephants have been observed throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, the area where elephants live has been greatly reduced. The African elephant has become completely extinct in Burundi, Gambia and Mauritania. individual species preserved further north, in Mali. Despite their wide distribution area, elephants are mainly concentrated in national parks and reserves.
Traditionally, there are two species of African elephants, namely the Savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana africana) and the Forest elephant (Loxodonta africana cyclotis).
The African savannah elephant is the largest of all elephants. In fact, it is the largest animal on Earth in the world, reaching 4 m (13 ft) in height and weighing approximately 7,000 kg (7.7 tons).
The average male is about 3 m (10 ft) tall and weighs 5500-6000 kg (6.1-6.6 tons), the female is much smaller. Most often, Savannah elephants are found in open fields, swamps, and on the shores of lakes.
They mainly live in the savannah and migrate south from the Sahara Desert.
Compared to the Savannah Elephant, the ears of the African Forest Elephant are usually smaller and more rounded, and the tusks are thinner and straighter. The forest elephant weighs up to 4,500 kg (10,000 lb) and reaches a height of 3 m (10 ft). Much less is known about these animals than about their savannah counterparts - emerging political differences and the habitat conditions of African forest elephants prevent their study.
Typically, they inhabit impenetrable tropical forests of the central and West Africa. The largest populations of Forest Elephants are currently found in Southern and Eastern Africa.
There are two species of elephant - the African elephant (genus: Loxodonta) and the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). They are different, but there are still some striking differences. African elephants number approximately 500,000, while the number of Asian elephants is declining dramatically, with less than 30,000 remaining.
Of these two species, African elephants are further divided into two species (savannah and forest), while Asian elephants are divided into four species (Sri Lankan, Indian, Sumartan and Borneo). Elephants, like people, are capable of change, and change depending on their character, emotions and personal qualities (individual characteristics).
Asian elephants have been very important to Asian culture for thousands of years - they have been domesticated and are now used for transportation in difficult terrain, for carrying heavy objects such as logs, and at festivals and in the circus. Currently, the Indian elephant is the largest, with longer front legs and a slimmer body than its Thai counterparts. We will dwell in more detail on Thai elephants, although of course these characteristics apply to all types of Asian Elephants.
Let's pay attention to some small details. Using our own experience and taking into account information from numerous other sources, we will tell you our own interpretation.
Asian elephants
They are officially considered an endangered species; in Thailand their numbers reach only 3,000-4,000.
About half of them are domesticated, the rest live in the wild in National Parks and Reserves. Around 300 are suffering in Bangkok's deplorable conditions. It is known that in the early 20th century (1900 AD) more than 100,000 elephants lived in the Siamese (Thai) countryside.
Asian elephants are smaller than African ones. They have smaller ears, and only males have tusks.
The first species is the Sri Lankan elephant (Elephas maximus maximus). They live on the island of Sri Lanka. A large male can reach 5,400 kg (12,000 lb) and be over 3.4 m (11 ft) tall.
Sri Lankan males have very convex skulls. Their head, trunk and belly are usually bright pink.
Another species, the Indian Elephant (Elephas maximus indicus) makes up the majority of the Asian elephant population.
There are about 36,000 of them, they are light gray, with depigmentation only on the ears and trunk. A large male averages only 5,000 kg (11,000 lb), but they are still as tall as the Sri Lankan. Indian elephants are found in eleven Asian countries, from India to Indonesia.
They prefer forests and areas between forests and fields where a greater variety of food is available to them.
The smallest group of elephants is the Sumartan elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus).
There are only 2100 - 3000 individuals.
Elephant - description, species, where it lives
They are a very light gray color with pink only on the ears. A mature Sumartan elephant reaches only 1.7-2.6 m (5.6-8.5 ft) in height and weighs less than 3,000 kg (6,600 lb). Although it is, of course, a huge animal in any case, the Sumartan elephant is nevertheless much smaller than any other Asian (and African) and exists only on the island of Sumatra, usually in forests and groves.
In 2003, another species of elephant was discovered on the island of Borneo.
They were called Borneo Dwarf Elephants, they are smaller and calmer, more docile than other Asian elephants. They have relatively large ears, a longer tail, and straighter fangs.
African elephants
Elephants of the genus Loxodonta, known as African elephants, are currently found in 37 countries in Africa.
The African elephant is the largest living land animal. It is characterized by a massive, heavy body, a large head on a short neck, thick limbs, huge ears and a long, muscular trunk.
The most striking difference from Asian ones is the ears. Africans have them much larger and are shaped like the continent of their origin. Both male and female African elephants have tusks and are typically less hairy than their Asian counterparts. Tusks grow throughout an elephant's life and serve as an indicator of its age.
Historically, African elephants have been observed throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, the area where elephants live has been greatly reduced. The African elephant has become completely extinct in Burundi, Gambia and Mauritania; some species have survived further north, in Mali. Despite their wide distribution area, elephants are mainly concentrated in national parks and reserves. Traditionally, there are two species of African elephants, namely the Savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana africana) and the Forest elephant (Loxodonta africana cyclotis).
The African savannah elephant is the largest of all elephants. In fact, it is the largest animal on Earth in the world, reaching 4 m (13 ft) in height and weighing approximately 7,000 kg (7.7 tons). The average male is about 3 m (10 ft) tall and weighs 5500-6000 kg (6.1-6.6 tons), the female is much smaller. Most often, Savannah elephants are found in open fields, swamps, and on the shores of lakes. They mainly live in the savannah and migrate south from the Sahara Desert.
Compared to the Savannah Elephant, the ears of the African Forest Elephant are usually smaller and more rounded, and the tusks are thinner and straighter.
The forest elephant weighs up to 4,500 kg (10,000 lb) and reaches a height of 3 m (10 ft). Much less is known about these animals than about their savannah counterparts; emerging political differences and the habitat conditions of African forest elephants prevent their study. Typically, they inhabit the impenetrable tropical forests of central and western Africa.
The largest populations of Forest Elephants are currently found in Southern and Eastern Africa.
. African elephant
. Indian elephant
. The fate of elephants in Africa
. About Indian elephants
. Indian working elephants
. African savannah elephant
. What is an Indian elephant?
. What is an African elephant?
. Origin of modern elephants
. Andrey Kornilov and circus elephants
. Did the mammoth hunt or warming influence the disappearance of the animal?
. forest elephant
. The smallest elephant
Body: The color varies from brown to dark gray, the hair of elephants is long, coarse, and sparsely covers the body. Elephants have thick skin that protects them from the cold.
Elephant - brief description, breeding process, interesting facts (89 photos + video)
The elephant also has four thick legs to support their enormous weight.
Vision: Elephants are quite nearsighted, able to see clearly only at very close distances, up to approximately 10 meters.
Hearing: Excellent hearing by human standards. Big ears act as amplifiers and warn of possible dangers.
Smell: Fine developed sense of smell surpasses the sense of smell of any other mammal on Earth.
Touch: Amazing feeling balance is a consequence of an excellent sense of touch.
The elephant's trunk, an incredibly versatile organ, plays a large role in this ability. More detailed description elephant trunk you will find on this page.
Taste: Like all highly developed animals, food is sufficient and the elephant can easily distinguish between good, bad and favorite food.
Teeth and tusks: Male Asian African elephants have large tusks - up to 1.5 - 1.8 m in length, while females have no tusks at all.
African elephants have long tusks in both sexes. Newborn elephants have tusks that are only 2 inches long. And only when they reach two years of age do the tusks begin to grow. In fact, tusks are the teeth of elephants. The only creature, which also has tusks, is a walrus. Elephants need tusks to dig the ground for food, remove garbage, fight, and carry loads weighing up to 1 ton, such as timber.
The molars (chewing teeth) are at least 30 cm (1 ft) long and weigh approximately 4 kg (8.8 lbs). Elephants have only four of these teeth. When new molars form, they completely displace the old ones. During its life, an elephant usually replaces its molars six times; the last ones grow in at about 40 years of age. When, around the age of 70, they break down, it becomes difficult for the elephant to eat, and subsequently, many of the elephants die of starvation.
Tusks never stop growing.
Legs: An elephant's legs are large, straight pillar-like supports because they must support all of its enormous weight.
Therefore, the elephant does not need developed muscles to stand, since it has straight legs and soft pads on its feet. Thus, an elephant can stand on its feet for a very long time without getting tired. In fact, African elephants rarely lie down unless they are tired or sick.
Indian elephants, on the contrary, lie down often.
An elephant's feet are almost circular in shape. U African elephant there are three claws on the hind limbs and four on the forelimbs. The Indians have four on the back and five on the front.
The peculiar structure of the soles (a special springy mass located under the skin) makes the gait of elephants almost silent.
Under the weight of the elephant, the bulges of the sole increase, and when the weight decreases, they also deflate. Thanks to this, the elephant can plunge deep into the mud and move through swampy terrain: when the animal stretches its leg out of the quagmire, the sole takes the shape of a cone narrowing downward; when stepping, the sole flattens under the weight of the body, increasing the area of support.
Elephants are good swimmers, but they cannot walk fast, jump, or gallop.
They can walk only in two ways: normal walking, and a faster one, similar to running. When walking, the legs act like pendulums, the hips and shoulders rise and fall while the feet remain on the ground. Thus, elephants always have at least one foot on the ground.
When walking quickly, an elephant has three feet on the ground at the same time. When walking at a normal pace, an elephant's speed is approximately 3 to 6 km/h (2 to 4 mph), but can reach a maximum of 40 km/h (24 mph).
. Features of elephants
. general characteristics elephants
. Anatomy of an elephant
. Why does an elephant need a trunk and tusks?
. Sensitive Organs
. elephant body
. Reproductive system female elephant
. Male reproductive system
. Elephant digestive system
. How many fingers does an elephant have?
. Elephants mating
. Elephant feet
The elephant is Earth's largest land animal, although the Indian elephant is slightly smaller than its African cousin. In this collection you will admire interesting photos elephants, and also learn about a number of interesting facts associated with this animal
Elephants are amazing animals. They love water and love to "shower" themselves by watering themselves with their multi-functional trunk. An elephant needs a trunk; thanks to it, it not only takes a shower. An elephant's trunk is a long nose With various functions. Thanks to it, he breathes, smells, drinks, grabs food, and even makes sounds :) The trunk alone contains approximately 100,000 muscles. Indian elephants have a small finger-like appendage at the end of their trunk, which they can use to grasp small objects (the African elephant has two such “fingers”). Elephants also have very powerful tusks. Ivory is highly prized by humans, which is why many elephants are killed for their tusks. The ivory trade is now illegal, but it has not been completely eliminated.
A third of the elephant's tusks are hidden in the animal's body, and there are now practically no elephants with large tusks left, since they were all destroyed by ivory hunters. Tusks grow throughout the animal’s life; the older the elephant, the more more tusks
According to approximate calculations by scientists, the elephant feeds for at least 16 hours a day, absorbing about 45 - 450 kilograms of various vegetation during this entire time. Depending on the weather conditions, the elephant drinks 100-300 liters of water per day
Elephants usually live in herds, where all individuals are related. They know how to greet each other, diligently take care of their offspring, and always remain faithful to the herd. If any member of the herd dies, the other elephants become very sad. Elephants are also one of those animals that can laugh.
The average lifespan of elephants is equal to that of a human, usually 70 years.
Elephants are called thick-skinned animals, as the thickness of an elephant's skin can reach 2.5 centimeters
Elephants have very good memory. They remember people who treated them well or badly, as well as the places in which certain events happened to them
Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump
It is also surprising that such a clumsy-looking animal can develop quite a decent speed. An elephant can run at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour
Elephants sleep little, only a few hours a day, usually no more than 4 hours
Elephants are also very good swimmers; cases have been recorded of an elephant swimming a distance of more than 70 kilometers.
Elephants eat tree roots, grass, fruits, and bark. They eat a lot. An adult elephant can consume up to 300 pounds (136 kilograms) of food per day. These giants practically do not sleep; they walk long distances to get their food. Having a baby elephant is considered a serious commitment. Elephants have the longest pregnancy of any other mammal - almost 22 months. Female elephants typically give birth to one calf once every four years. At birth, the baby elephant weighs approximately 200 pounds (91 kilograms) and is about three feet tall.
The statement that elephants have 4 knees is erroneous, although very widespread.
These animals also have a very large brain - its weight can reach 6 kilograms. No wonder elephants are on the list
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