African elephant
The African elephant are the two species of elephant in the genus Loxodonta. This is one of the two living genera in Elephantidae.
| African elephant | |
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| African elephant (Loxodonta africana) in Tanzania | |
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| Genus: | Loxodonta Anonymous, 1827
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Female elephants travel in herds and male elephants travel alone and sometimes in bachelor groups.
Fossil Loxodonta have only been found in Africa, where they developed in the middle Pliocene.
Males of the African bush elephant can grow to 3.64 meters (12 feet) tall at the shoulder and weigh 5455 kg (12,000 lbs). It is the largest living elephant. Females may reach 3 meters (10 feet) and weigh 3636 kg to 4545 kg (8,000 to 10,000 lbs).[1]
Teeth
At any one time, elephants have one molar in each jaw bone (two upper, two lower). Each weighs about 11 lbs and measures about 12 inches long. As they wear away at the front, new molars emerge in the back of the mouth and gradually replace the old ones.[2] Elephants replace their teeth six times. If it survives to 60 years of age the elephant no longer has teeth and will die of starvation.
Their tusks are also teeth, the second set of upper incisors become the tusks. They are used for digging for roots and stripping the bark off trees for food, and, fighting each other during mating season, or defending themselves against predators. They weigh from 50-100 pounds and may be from 5 to 8 feet long. However, a result of poachers killing elephants with the biggest tusks has been a survivor population with much smaller tusks. Both bulls and cows have tusks.
Species
- Loxodonta adaurora, extinct, presumed antecedent of the modern African elephants.
- African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana).
- African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis).
Bush and forest elephants are nowadays generally considered to be two distinct species. The African forest elephant has a longer and narrower mandible, rounder ears, a 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 foot, the African forest elephant normally has five toenails on the front foot and four on the hind foot (like the Asian elephant). Hybrids between the two species do occur.
Conservation
Poaching greatly reduced the population of elephants in Africa in the 20th century. In the eastern region of Chad, elephant herds were substantial as recently as 1970, with an estimated population of 400,000. However, by 2006 the number had dropped to about 10,000. The African elephant nominally has governmental protection, but poaching is a serious issue.[3]
People moving into or near areas where elephants occur naturally is a problem. There is research into methods of safely driving groups of elephants away from humans. Playing recorded sounds of angry honey bees is remarkably effective at prompting elephants to flee an area.[4] Sometimes elephant communities have grown so large that culling was needed to sustain the ecosystem.[5]
Gallery
A close-up from the Addo Elephant Park, South Africa.
A breeding herd of elephants, entirely cows and young, in the Makuleke area of the Kruger Park, South Africa.
A young bull elephant in a breeding herd displaying mock aggression.
African Elephant Media
Comparison of bush (left) and forest (right) elephant skulls in frontal view. Note the shorter and wider head of L. cyclotis, with a concave instead of convex forehead.
A female African bush elephant skeleton on display at the Museum of Osteology, Oklahoma City
Short tactile hair growing on the trunk
A male African bush elephant skull on display at the Museum of Osteology
Female bush elephants in Tanzania
Family responds to bee warning rumble
Bull elephants in mock aggression
Scratching on a tree helps to remove layers of dead skin and parasites
Men with African elephant tusks in Dar es Salaam, c. 1900
Number of African elephants
References
- ↑ Laurson, Barry & Bekoff, Marc 1978. Loxodonta africana. Mammalian Species 92: 1–8. [1]
- ↑ Burnie D. 2001. Animal. London: Dorling Kindersley.
- ↑ Goudarzi, Sara (2006). "100 slaughtered elephants found in Africa". LiveScience.com. Archived from the original on 2007-06-28. Retrieved 2006-08-31.
- ↑ Lucy E. King, Iain Douglas-Hamilton, Fritz Vollrath 2007. African elephants run from the sound of disturbed bees. Current Biology 17: R832-R833
- ↑ BBC: Elephant explosion triggers cull row
Other websites
- Elephant Information Repository Archived 2009-03-18 at the Wayback Machine - An in-depth resource on elephants
- "Elephant caves" of Mt Elgon National Park Archived 2010-01-28 at the Wayback Machine
- ElephantVoices - Resource on elephant vocal communications
- Amboseli Trust for Elephants - Interactive web site