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Too little to be here all alone..
Submitted by:
Nakota,
megg,
Nenni.
Elephant - African
Loxodonta africana
Afrikaans: Olifant
Zulu: Ndhlovu
German: Afrikanischer Elefant
French: Eléphant d'Afrique
The African elephant is the largest living land animal.
The elephant's nose and upper lip are elongated into a muscular, powerful trunk. This truly multi-purpose tool is powerful enough to uproot trees but dexterous enough that the two 'fingers' at its tip can pick up single seeds. Elephants can swim considerable distances and, in deeper water, will use their trunks like snorkels. The tusks are elongated upper incisor teeth and are not necessarily the same size. Some adults lack tusks and some have only one. Elephants will often uproot trees and then use their tusks to chisel the bark off. They are usually left or right handed, as are people, favouring the use of one tusk over the other.
An elephant's eyes are small relative to the huge size of the animal. The ears are very large, flat and roughly the shape of the African continent, often with tears and holes in them. The ears are laden with blood vessels and when flapped, help bring down the huge beast's body temperature. The front feet are roughly circular, with five blunt toenails; the hind feet are oval, with four blunt toenails. The soles are padded, allowing amazingly silent movement for such a large animal. The tail is thin, up to 1.5 m long, and has a whisk of long, thick hairs at the end.
Elephants are highly gregarious animals and move around in family groups. The leader of each group is normally the oldest and most experienced cow, she is known as the Matriarch. A group may consist of up to 50 elephants, but more one group may move around together making up large numbers in one herd. Elephants are not territorial and move around according to seasons and food availability.
They spend most of their lives feeding as they have a rather inefficient digestive system. They show a high degree of intelligence and emotion. They will sleep for 4 to 5 hours a night and rest in the hottest times of the day.
Gender Differences:
Females have one pair of mammae, low on the sides of the chest, just behind the forelegs. Both sexes have a thick flap of skin hanging between their hind legs. Males are larger (height 9 ft 10 in to 11 ft/3 3.3 m) and heavier (11,000 lb - 13,200 lb/5000 - 6000 kg) than the females (height 8 ft 4 in /2.5 m) (6600-7700 lb (3000-3500 kg).
Bulls have wider heads and in profile they have a more rounded forehead. The males usually have larger and thicker tusks than the females and have therefore been more heavily poached.
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