Elephas Maximus/Loxodonta Africana
Trunk: The boneless, muscular trunk which is the most distinctive feature of elephants, is used to convey grasses, leaves, and water to the mouth. Present-day elephants consume as much as 225 kg (495 lb) of forage a day in this manner and drink as much as 190 litres (50 gallons) of water, drawing it through their nostrils and squirting it into the mouth. An extremely versatile organ, the trunk is also used to trumpet calls, pull down trees, rip off foliage, and draw up dust for dust bathing. It is also a highly sensitive organ, which the animals raise into the air to detect wind-borne scents. By means of finger-like lobes on the end of the trunk and by the sucking action of the two nostrils, elephants can pick up and examine small objects.
African and Asian Elephants: The African elephant can be quickly distinguished from the Asian elephant by its greater size and larger ears, which may reach a length of 1.5 m (about 5 ft) from top to bottom. The African elephant is tallest at the shoulder, has more wrinkled skin, and bears tusks in both male and female. The Asian elephant is tallest at the arch of the back, bears tusks in the male only, and has one lobe instead of two on its trunk. Asian and African Elephant Comparisons: The two species of the family Elephantidae can be distinguished easily by the size of their ears, small in the Asian elephant and quite large in the more massive African elephant. A closer look reveals other differences. The Asian elephant, for example, has four toes on each hind foot while the African elephant has only three toes. See the below illustration:
Walking Movements: Despite their great weight, which in African elephants reaches 7000 kg (15,400 lb) and in Asian elephants reaches 5000 kg (11,000 lb), elephants walk almost noiselessly with exceptional grace, their columnar legs keeping their bulk moving forward in smooth, rhythmic strides. A thick cushion of resilient tissue grows on the base of the foot, absorbing the shock of the weight and enabling the animal to walk high on its hoof-like toes. Elephants normally walk about 6.4 km/h (about 4 mph) and can charge at up to 40 km/h (25 mph). They cannot gallop or jump over ditches, but readily take to rivers and lakes, where the water supports them and enables them to swim long distances without tiring. Sensory Perception: The great ears of the African elephant are probably used for ventilation and visual communication as well as for hearing. The eyesight is poor, the eyes being comparatively small and fixed on the animal's large and relatively immobile head. The most sensitive organ is the trunk, which is frequently at work picking up scents of food and danger from the ground and air. Observers first noted in the 1980s that elephants produce, with their nasal passages, rumbling sounds below the range of human hearing. Because such sounds travel well and because elephant hearing is better at low frequencies, the animals likely use these sounds to communicate with one another over long distances. Social Structure: Elephants are gregarious and keenly sensitive to one another's calls and movements. They usually associate in herds of 15 to 30 or more related members led by an old female called a matriarch. Herds of Asian elephants are usually made up of females, immature elephants, and one old bull; those of African elephants may also include mature bulls. Bulls driven from herds live alone or in bachelor herds. Elephants commonly feed in the morning, evening, and at night and rest during the middle of the day. When migrating, they often trek single file.
Training: Although African elephants can be trained, the Asian elephant has by far the longer tradition of service to humans. Asian elephants are still used for logging, especially in mountainous terrain, and were probably employed as work animals as early as 2000 BC. They were used in war in 326 BC against Alexander the Great, and 37 elephants accompanied the Carthaginian general Hannibal and his army across the Alps in 218 BC. Since elephants rarely bear young in captivity, they are corralled in the wild, often with the use of domestic elephants and mahouts (professional elephant handlers). A captured calf is assigned a keeper, who remains for life, training the calf when it reaches 14 years of age and putting it to hard labour at 25 years. This type of capture is becoming less frequent, except in cases where animals that are destroying farmers' crops are captured and relocated in the wild. Recently, there has been about one successful birth per year in American zoos. Scientific classification: Elephants make up the family Elephantidae in the order Proboscidea. The Asian elephant is classified as Elephas maximus and the African elephant as Loxodonta africana. |
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