The african elephant (Loxodonta Africana) is the biggest modern day land animal. It's a mammal that belongs to the Elephantidae family (in which it's the largest modern day member) and to the Proboscidea order.
Main picture link: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/african-elephant
Where does the african elephant live?
Map 1 link: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loxodonta_africana#/media/File:LoxodontaAfricanaIUCN.svg
As its name suggests, the african elehant lives only in Africa:
- The african bush elephant (Loxodonta Africana) lives mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, more precisely in: Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Zangola, Angola, Mali and Namibia. Its preferred habitat is the arid savannah and the desert.
- The african forest elephant (Loxodonta Africana Cyclotis) lives in Congo near the water.
Map 2 link: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loxodonta_cyclotis#/media/File:LoxodontaCyclotisIUCN.svg
How big is the african elephant?
As we mentioned, the african elephant is the biggest land animal today: the males are about 3.20 meters tall and weigh up to 6 tons, the females are 2.60 meters tall and weigh up to 3 tons.
Picture link: https://news.cgtn.com/news/2019-11-05/Find-The-Differences-Asian-elephant-vs-African-elephant-LmLrDl98qI/index.html
What makes the african elephant unique?
The most striking features of an african elephant (as for all other elephant species) are its enormous size and the trunk, (the elephant's prehensile nose) which it's used to grab food and objects but also as a weapon for defense.
Picture link: https://www.dkfindout.com/us/explore/whats-difference-between-an-african-and-asian-elephant/
The african elephant is very different from the asian elephant:
- The asian elephant is smaller than the African elephant.
- The trunk of the asian elephant has only one lobe while the African elephant's trunk has 2 lobes.
- The ears of the asian elephant are smaller than those of the african elephant.
- In both species ivory tusks grow. In the asian elephant, tusks grow only in males while females have none; in the african species the tusks grow in both sexes but are shorter in the females. In the african forest elephant, the tusks are shorter and straighter than those of the African savannah elephant.
Another feature of African elephants is musth: shortly after the rainy season, the body of the 24 years old male elephants is covered with testosterone and they are ready for mating. However, this makes them particularly dangerous because it leads them to charge and harm any other animal they encounter on their path. Besides this, African elephants are normally peaceful animals.
I took this picture.
Is the african elephant a social or a solitary animal?
African elephants are basically social: females live in matriarchal societies and are mainly composed of related females and their youngsters. These herds are composed of about ten individuals and are led by the oldest female of the group.
Males live alone or in smaller groups.
Males and females only meet during the mating season. From their union, a baby elephant weighing 120 kg is usually born.
What does the african elephant eat?
The African elephant is herbivorous and feeds on any type of plant and fruit. It needs 300 kg of food a day, for this reason it spends 18 to 20 hours to feed.
Who are the african elephant's natural enemies?
An adult elephant has no natural enemies. The little ones, on the other hand, are hunted by hyenas, crocodiles, leopards and especially by lions.
What relationship has the african elephant with man?
Unfortunately, all the african elephant subspecies are endagered by human kind. Over the years, man has hunted african elephants bringing them to the brink of extinction for pure fun, to remove them from cultivation fields but above all for the ivory tusks that have a very high value on the black market.
The african elephant is on the big 5 of Africa (along with rhinos, Cape buffaloes, lions and leopards), which are the 5 most dangerous African animals but also the most coveted by trophy hunters.
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