What Is The Largest Land Animal On Earth
Elephants: Earth's Largest Living Land-Animals
Elephants are the largest land animals on Earth, and they're one of the almost unique-looking animals, likewise. With their feature long noses, or trunks; big, floppy ears; and wide, thick legs, there is no other creature with a similar physique.
Most experts recognize two species of elephant: the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) and the African elephant (Loxodonta africana), who live on split continents and have many unique features. There are several subspecies that belong to one or the other of these 2 main species, though experts fence over how many subspecies there are and whether or not they found dissever species, according to the San Diego Zoo.
African and Asian elephants
African elephants live in sub-Saharan Africa, the rainforests of Primal and W Africa and the Sahel desert in Republic of mali, according to National Geographic. Asian elephants live in Nepal, India and Southeast Asia in scrub forests and rainforests. [Elephant Images: The Biggest Beasts on Land]
African elephants are the larger of the 2 species. They grow to betwixt 8.2 and xiii anxiety (2.five and 4 meters) alpine at the shoulder and weigh 5,000 to fourteen,000 lbs. (ii,268 to 6,350 kilograms), co-ordinate to National Geographic. Asian elephants are just a footling smaller, growing to between half dozen.6 and 9.8 feet (two and 3 m) tall at the shoulder and weighing betwixt 4,500 and xi,000 lbs. (2,041 and 4,990 kg). In the wild, African elephants tin live upward to 70 years, and Asian elephants up to 60 years.
African and Asian elephants likewise accept a few different concrete features.
The ears of African elephant are larger and resemble the shape of the African continent, while Asian elephants have smaller, rounder ears, according to the San Diego Zoo.
Both male person and female African elephants have large tusks and ii "fingers" on the end of their trunks to aid them pick items up. Asian elephants take a single "finger" on the end of their trucks. But typically, simply male Asian elephants will grow big tusks, while the females and a few males take much smaller tusks called tushes that don't always grow outside the rima oris.
Tusks are large, securely rooted teeth that evolved to assist the elephant in digging, lifting, gathering food, and defence while also protecting the trunk, according to World Wild animals Fund. In the aforementioned way that humans tend to be right-handed or left-handed, elephants can be correct-tusked or left-tusked. Their dominant tusk is easy to identify, because information technology will exist more worn downwards than the less dominant tusk, co-ordinate to the World Wild fauna Fund.
Both species eat all types of vegetation, including a variety of grasses, fruits, leaves, bawl and roots. They spend about about 16 hours eating, consuming anywhere from 165 to 330 lbs. (75 to 150 kg) of food per day, according to the San Diego Zoo.
Elephant life
Groups of elephants, or herds, follow a matriarchal construction with the eldest female in charge. Herds are composed of primarily female person family unit members and young calves, co-ordinate to the San Diego Zoo, and include half dozen to twenty members depending on the nutrient supply. When the family gets too large, herds often split into smaller groups that stay inside the same area.
The matriarch relies on her experience and memory to recall where the best spots for nutrient, water are, and where to find protection from the elements. The matriarch is likewise responsible for teaching the younger members of her family unit how to socialize with other elephants.
Elephants are very social and can communicate with one another and identify other elephants from distances of upward to ii miles using rumbling, low-pitched sounds that autumn below the aural range of humans, according to the National Zoo.
Elephants readily bear witness good manners to members within its herd and other herds, according to the San Diego Zoo. For example, they use their trunks to greet one another, either by holding it out high or by inserting the end of their torso into another elephant'south oral cavity.
Elephants as well pay shut attending to the well-existence of all the members of their herd, and will do what they can to take care of and protect weak or injured members.
They're considered an extremely intelligent species, and have been observed showing advanced problem-solving skills and demonstrating empathy, mourning and cocky-sensation, according to an article in Scientific American.
Next generation
Male and female elephants become sexually mature between 8 and 13 years of age. Male elephants volition leave their herd effectually this time, as long equally they're able to notice their ain nutrient and protect themselves, according to the Smithsonian National Zoo. Adult males either live on their ain or in pocket-size bachelor herds.
Females may not have their kickoff calf until their middle teen years, while males may not father a dogie until they are in their 30s, when they are big and potent enough to compete with other males, co-ordinate to the National Zoo.
Commonly, but a single calf is born following a 22-month pregnancy. A newborn calf weighs betwixt 150 and 350 lbs. (68 and 158 kg) stands about three feet tall. Calves as well tend to be hairy with long tails and very short trunks.
Elephant calves grow rapidly, gaining 2 to 3 lbs. every day in their start year, according to the San Diego Zoo. Past the time they are 2 or 3 years old, calves are ready to exist weaned.
Nomenclature/Taxonomy
All elephants are mammals belonging to the elephantidae family. There are 2 subspecies of the African elephant: the savanna (or bush) elephant (Loxodonta africana) and the wood elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis). Nevertheless, forest elephants may in fact be a singled-out species of elephant instead of a subspecies, according to Cornell Academy.
There are three subspecies of Asian elephant: the Indian elephant (Elephas maximus indicus), the Sri Lankan elephant (Elephas maximus maximus), and the Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus). Some other possible subspecies is Elephas maximus borneensis (Borneo pygmy elephant). The World Wild animals Fund has determined that DNA evidence suggests that the Borneo pygmy elephant is genetically different from other Asian elephants.
Conservation status
The International Marriage for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resource (IUCN) classifies the Asian elephant as endangered. Though it is not known exactly how many Asian elephants remain, experts believe that the population is decreasing.
The African elephant is considered vulnerable, according to the IUCN, and the species' population is increasing. According to the African Wild fauna Foundation, there are effectually 415,000 African elephants in the wild.
Threats against the survival of both African and Asian elephants include poaching and habitat loss, according to World Wild fauna Fund.
Additional resource:
- Bank check out more interesting facts about African elephants on the Elephants for Africa website.
- Larn more than about elephant conservation from the International Elephant Foundation.
- Meet the adorable baby elephants being cared for at Elephants Without Borders elephant orphanage in Republic of botswana.
This article was updated on March 18, 2019, by Live Science Contributor Rachel Ross.
Alina Bradford is a contributing writer for Live Science. Over the past 16 years, Alina has covered everything from Ebola to androids while writing health, scientific discipline and tech articles for major publications. She has multiple health, condom and lifesaving certifications from Oklahoma State University. Alina'due south goal in life is to try as many experiences every bit possible. To date, she has been a volunteer firefighter, a dispatcher, substitute teacher, artist, janitor, children's book author, pizza maker, result coordinator and much more.
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