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Elephants are the only living species of the order of Proboscidea that belong to the family of Elephantidae.
This family of large land mammals includes three species: the African elephant, the Asian elephant, and the African forest elephant.
Elephants are the largest living land animals on Earth today, and their gestation period is 22 months, the longest of any land animal.
Elephants are herbivores, i.e. they feed on plants, and they need an average of 200 Kg of grasses and leaves per day, but in periods of food shortage they are also known to eat fruits, roots, or even bark.
Elephants use their muscular trunk for gathering food, and also as a nose for smelling and even entering in touch with other animals.
The elephant’s trunk is a powerful but also very sensitive feature. Elephants also use their trunk for drinking water, and they can suck up more than 9 litres of water at a time.
Unlike humans, elephants have several sets of teeth throughout their entire lives; chewing teeth are replaced five to six times. If an elephant lives very old (more than 60 years),
the last set of teeth is worn out, and he will starve to death because he can no longer feed properly.
Elephants live in matriarchal family herds led by the matriarch, the oldest and usually largest female in the group. Each herd consists of the matriarch and related females,
This family-related organization gives the herd a very powerful emotional and social bond, and when calves are born, the whole herd females raise and protect them.
Young males leave the herd at the age of 12-15 and lead a solitary life or live occasionally with other males, only joining the females at the mating season.
Elephants communicate among them by producing sounds that are caught by other elephants; they also communicate through physical contact, using mainly their trunk for that purpose.
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The African elephant
The African elephant is the largest living mammal on Earth today; he is also known as savannah or bush elephant.
In the African elephant, both males and females have tusks that are made of ivory.
Because ivory is valuable to humans, many elephants have been hunted for their teeth, and African elephants are an endangered species.
Males may weigh up to 100 kg and have tusks as long as 3 metres. The African elephant is distinguished from its Asian cousin through its much larger ears that help him keep cool in the hot African climate.
The African elephant is equipped with two fingerlike projections at the tip of its trunk, while the Asian elephant has only one fingerlike projection.
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The Asian elephant
The Asian elephant, also known as Indian elephant, is the second largest of Earth’s land mammals.
The Asian elephant is easier to domesticate than its African cousin, and it has rendered valuable services to man.
The Asian elephant has smaller ears than its African cousin, and it has only one fingerlike projection at the end of its trunk.
In the Asian elephant, only males have tusks.
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The forest elephant
The forest elephant is the third largest land living mammal after the African and the Asian elephants.
The forest elephant was for some time considered as a subspecies of the savannah (African) elephant, but it is now classified as a distinct species.
The forest elephant usually inhabits the dense African rain forests of central and western Africa, mainly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic.
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Did you know that...
elephants, like humans, are right or left-handed?
That is so. In fact, they use either their right or left tusk. Dogs, too, are right or left-handed, and I am a left-handed dog. My young boss Eduardo is also left-handed.
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Dulce Rodrigues |
