African elephant . It is the largest land mammal . He possesses great strength, and his appearance is unmistakable.
Summary
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- 1 Features
- 1 Food
- 2 Playback
- 2 Familia
- 3 Utility of the French horn
- 4 Utility of the Fangs
- 5 Customs and social life
- 6 State of conservation
- 1 Danger of extinction
- 7 sources
Features
African elephants are larger than Asian elephants, they can reach four meters in height and weigh about 7,000 kilograms. Their ears are larger (they can be 1.5 m long), and both sexes have fangs, they do not have sweat glands so they wallow in ponds and rivers to cool down. The mud that dries on their skin protects them from the sun.
The trunk can measure more than two meters, and is formed by the nose and the upper lip. The fangs are the incisor teeth, which are very large and protrude from the mouth. They can measure more than a meter and a half in length and are made of ivory. The tusks of African elephants are larger than those of Asian elephants.
Elephants have small eyes and do not see very well. Their ears, on the other hand, are very large, although those of the Asian elephant are smaller than those of the African. Elephants cannot sweat, so they use their large ears like a fan to cool off. These have larger ears because they live in areas where it is warmer.
Elephants hear very well and can ‘talk’ to each other: they greet their companions or warn them of danger. They can also hear noises made by other elephants from far away.
Feeding
Their diet is completely vegetarian: fibrous herbs, stems, leaves, fruits, bark, bulbs, etc. They crush from 100 to 300 kg. diaries. To consume such an amount of food they have a special dental system: each of their four hemimandibles has a single functional molar; due to wear, a second spare molar will emerge that will displace the unusable piece. This process can be repeated a third and last time, this being the cause that some old specimen can die of starvation.
Reproduction
At any time of the year, the female can go into heat. Mating is preceded by a confrontation between the males for possession of the female. Once the couple is established, they will start an affectionate game in which they intertwine their trunks and caress each other.
Family
The males and females only get together to mate, the females live together forming small families, made up of the young elephants and their mothers, their aunts and their grandmothers. The oldest female, the Matriarch|matriarch, is the one who runs the family. The males leave the Herd|herd when they are about six years old, to live alone or in small groups with other males.
Elephant moms have the longest pregnancy of any animal. The young develop inside their mother’s body for almost two years! (between 20 and 22 months). elephants only have one calf, which can weigh about 100 kilograms and measure almost a meter in height. The calves feed on their mother’s milk until they are three or four years old. By the time they turn ten, elephants weigh between 900 and 1,300 kilograms. They can live more than 60 years.
utility of the trunk
Elephants use their trunks for almost everything. They use it to smell, but also as if it were a real ‘hand’ with which to grasp things with precision. With their trunks, they pluck grasses and leaves from trees, and carry them to their mouths to feed. Elephants are Herbivores|herbivores: they eat leaves, flowers, grass, twigs and other plants. They eat more than 100 kilograms of food a day.
They also drink with their trunk, absorbing the water and then bringing it to their mouths. They drink more than 100 liters of liquid a day. They love to bathe and splash water with their trunks! This is how they cool off.
They are able to catch any small object with their trunk, such as a leaf or a fruit that has fallen on the ground. In addition, the tube is an organ capable of perceiving smells and tastes. They also use it to make sounds, knock down trees, uproot vegetation or as a ‘sprayer’ in dust baths: elephants fill their trunks with dust to spray their skin with it; it’s fun to watch them. They shower with powder to kill the insects on their skin that annoy them so much.
utility of the fangs
The elephants use the tusks|tusks to dig and get food. They stick them into the ground and dig up roots, which they feed on. They also use their fangs to fight; males fight each other to impress females.
Female African elephants also use their tusks to protect their cubs from lions and tigers, their main predators .
customs and social life
The social unit is the family: an adult female and her young; several families united form a herd and several herds the herd. This is usually made up of 10-20 individuals, exceptionally up to 50, led by the oldest female. The young will remain with the adults until they reach sexual maturity (12-14 years). Adult males live alone, in pairs or in small groups. Upon reaching old age, the solitary character is accentuated. The herd is constantly on the move, mainly at night. Unable to jump or gallop, they are instead perfect swimmers and climbers. The normal walking speed is 7 km/hour and can reach 40 km/hour. In full flight. They emit a variety of sounds to indicate alarm, identification or simply to maintain a relationship.
State of conservation
Due to their corpulence and strength, they lack natural enemies, however, the populations are highly fragmented, mainly due to the hunting to which they have been subjected to obtain the ivory from their tusks. The estimated population is around 500,000 individuals.
Danger of extinction
African elephants like Asian ones are in danger of extinction . People kill them to get the ivory from their tusks. They also destroy the forests and grasslands where these animals live. In the year 1900 there were between 5 and 10 million elephants. In 1979 there were only 1.3 million left. Another 600,000 African elephants were killed between 1979 and 1989 . That year some countries banned the sale of ivory and created protected areas for these mammals. Despite this, only about 400,000 to 500,000 elephants live in the wild today.
