African Bush Elephant Facts
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidea
Family: Elephantidae
Genre: Loxodonta
Scientific name: Loxodonta africana africana
Common name: African Bush Elephant
Other name (s): African Elephant
Group: Mammal
Number of species: 1
Location: central and southern Africa
Classification and evolution of African Bush Elephant
The African Bush Elephant is the largest of all living creatures on earth today, with some individuals growing to weigh more than 6 tons . It is believed that the elephant was named after the Greek word for ivory , which means that the elephants were nominated by their exceptionally long tusks. Although many of the ancestors of the African Bush elephant became extinct during the last ice age ( including the woolly mammoth ), three species of elephants that remain today are the Asian elephant (of which there is a number of sub - species), the African Bush Elephant and the African Forest Elephant . Although these two species are very similar elephant , the African Bush Elephant is usually considered larger than the African forest elephant , which has round ears and straighter tusks .
Anatomy and Appearance of African Bush Elephant
The African Bush Elephant is the largest land mammal known on Earth , with male African Bush elephant reaches up to 3.5 meters high and females are slightly smaller around 3 feet tall . The body of the African Bush elephant can also grow to between 6 and 7 feet long. The tusks of an African Bush elephant can be about 2.5 meters long and weigh between 50 and 100 pounds, which is about the same as a small adult human. African Bush Elephants have four molars each weighing about 5.0 kg and measures about 12 inches long. As the couple of front molar in the mouth of the African Bush elephant wear down and leave in pieces , the back pair shift forward and two new molars are in the back of the mouth of the African Bush Elephant . African Bush Elephants replace their teeth six times during his life , but when the African Bush Elephant is between 40 and 60 years old , has no teeth and is likely to die, which is sadly a common cause of death desert elephants in Africa .
African Bush Elephant Habitat
Although the historic distribution of their ancestors were right on the Arctic Circle , now the African Bush Elephant is found mainly in central and southern Africa in roaming the plains and grasslands of Africa for food and finding water. Unlike the slightly smaller African forest elephant , the African Bush Elephant inhabits the savanna plains of grass and shrub land of the African continent in the groups containing mothers and calves. African Bush elephant herds usually contains about 10 singles , but it is not uncommon for family groups to join together, forming a clan that contains more than 1,000 elephants. This very social lifestyle means that African Bush Elephants are less vulnerable in the open African plains .
Behavior & Lifestyle of African Bush Elephant
Not only is the African Bush elephant a mammal very sociable , but also very active .African Bush Elephants are nomadic animals which means they are constantly on the move in search of food , so moving within these family herds gives them much greater protection from predators and weather . The trunk of the African Bush Elephant is one of its strongest characteristics and is extra long nose is not only flexible enough to pick up and handle food , but also can collect water. Its trunk , along with their fangs can also be used for defense against predators such as lions, and fight with other male African Bush elephants during the mating season . African Bush elephants are also considered highly intelligent and emotional animals that exhibit behaviors that include giving and receiving love, care deeply for the young and mourning for dead relatives.
Reproduction and Life Cycles of African Bush Elephant
African Bush elephants tend to live relatively long lives , with average life expectancy is between 60 and 70 years old, female African Bush elephants reach sexual maturity ( are able to reproduce ) , after 10 or 11 years , but it is believed they are most fertile between the ages of 25 and 45 . African Bush Elephant Man however, often do not reach sexual maturity until almost 20 years old. After mating , and a gestation period of up to two years , the female African Bush Elephant gives birth to a single calf (twins have been known , but they are extremely rare ) . African Bush Elephant calf is nursed for 2 years, but remain under the guidance and protection of the pack until it is old enough to support himself ( about 6 years) . It is at this point that the tusks of African Bush elephant calf will begin to grow.
Diet and Prey of African Bush Elephant
Despite its immense size , the African Bush Elephant is an herbivore that means surviving on a diet consisting exclusively of plants and plant material. Most of the diet of African Bush Elephant consists of leaves and branches are stripped of trees and shrubs with their trunk . African Bush Elephant also eat fruits and herbs and uses its enormous tusks to dig for roots in the ground and remove the bark of trees. The food gets into mouth with the trunk and large, flat teeth of African Bush Elephant are then for grinding vegetation and downstream plants so that they can then be more easily digested .
Predators and Threats for African Bush Elephant
African Bush Elephant has no real natural predators to threaten their survival , mainly due to its size and the fact that African Bush elephants generally stay within the safety of the herd. African Bush elephants are peaceful giants of Africa and can be seen co - inhabit the African desert with other large mammals and birds without any problem. In the animal world , lions and hyenas may occasionally be able to choose from a young African Bush elephant which has been separated from his mother and have also been known to attack people who are old and sick and therefore more vulnerable.People enforce African Bush elephants for their ivory tusks are the greatest threat to their survival , along with habitat loss across the continent .
Facts and interesting features of African Bush Elephant
In the 19th century , the history of the African Bush elephant was very different with his being up to 5 million people believed to have been wandering the African continent. However, due to the increased demand for ivory , it is thought that Bush elephant population in Africa that have fallen to 80 % in some areas. Large African Bush elephant ears is said by some to be a form similar to Africa, but these large flaps of skin are not only for hearing , they are a vital tool to keep the elephant cool in the African heat condition . Like many of the herbivores are found throughout Africa , the calves can walk at birth to maximize their chances of survival . An adult African Bush elephant can drink up to 50 liters of water per day , and is able to take 1.5 liters of water in their trunks at a time .
African Bush Elephant with humans
Unfortunately, due to increased interest outside of Africa and its exotic wonders (especially in the middle of the 20th century ) , the population of the African Bush elephant had a ridiculous falling towards extinction . After being brutally killed by poachers for their ivory for years , African Bush elephants had disappeared from much of their natural habitat. In 1989 an elephant ivory worldwide hunting ban fell into place after that populations have declined so dramatically across the continent . In northern and central Africa , the African Bush Elephant is rare and limited to protected areas , and although the topic is same in south, it is assumed that South Africa's elephant populations do better with an estimated 200,000 people in the area.
Conservation Status and Life of African Bush Elephant
Today, despite the recovery of populations of African Bush Elephant are still threatened by rising levels of poaching and habitat destruction . Deforestation in the territory of the African Bush Elephant directs that they lose both their food and shelter making them more vulnerable in the wild. Despite ban , African Bush Elephants are continuously penalized by poachers killing elephants for tusks .
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