The Most Heaviest land mammal Elephant is an incredible creature living on this beautiful planet (earth). This beautiful beast is listed number one in heaviest land mammals.
Heaviest Land Mammal (Elephant):
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- Elephant is an incredible creature.
- A notable feature of all elephants is their large ears, which radiates ( reduces ) excess heat.
- They have a marvellous sensitivity to music and color.
- They keep track of their family members and non-family members using just their sense of smell.
- The trunk of an elephant weighs around 130kg and is capable of lifting about 250kg (3% of total weight of an elephant).
- Elephants are also known for their sharp memory power.
- Elephants are among those exclusive group of animals that recognize their reflections in a mirror.
- They communicate through vibrations. (cool fact).
List of haviest elephants:
- African bush elephant (African savanna elephant).
- Asian elephant (Asiatic elephant).
- African forest elephant.
African bush elephant:
- The heaviest land mammal is the African bush elephant (African savanna elephant) which has a weight of up to 5,200–6,900 kg (11,500–15,200 lb).
- This enormous mammal measures 10-13 ft at the shoulder and consumes around 230 kilograms (500 lb) of vegetation a day.
- Both male, female have tusks, which erupt when they are 1–3 years old and grow throughout life.
- It is distributed across 37 African countries.
- African bush elephant inhabits forests, grasslands, woodlands and agricultural land.
- It is a social mammal, traveling in herds composed of cows (female elephant) and their offspring.
- Adult bulls usually live alone or in small bachelor groups. It is a herbivore, feeding on grasses, creepers, herbs and leaves.
Characteristics of African bush elephant:
Size and weight:
- On average, males are about 3.20 m (10.5 ft) tall at the shoulder and weigh 6.00 tons (6.61 short tons).
- Females are much smaller at about 2.60 m (8.53 ft) tall at the shoulder and 3.00 tons (3.31 short tons) in weight.
Skin color:
- The African bush elephant has grey skin.
- Its whole body is covered with scanty hairs.
Ears:
- Its large ears cover the whole shoulder.
- These ears can grow as large as 2 m × 1.5 m (6.6 ft × 4.9 ft).
- Large ears help to reduce body heat.
- By flapping them they create air currents.
- The ears' inner sides have large blood vessels that increase heat loss during hot weather.
- The African bush elephant's ears are pointed and triangular shaped.
- Its occipital plane slopes forward.
- Its back is shaped markedly concave.
Tusks of African bush elephant:
- The tusks erupt when elephants are 1–3 years old and grow throughout life.
- They are composed of dentin and coated with a thin layer of cementum.
- Their tips bear/have a conical layer of enamel that is usually worn off when the elephant is five years old.
- Tusks of bulls grow faster than tusks of females.
- Mean weight of tusks at the age of 60 years is 109 kg (240 lb) in bulls, and 17.7 kg (39.0 lb) in cows.
- "The longest known tusk of an African bush elephant measured 3.51 m (11.5 ft) and weighed 117 kg (258 lb)."
Threats for African bush elephant :
- Between 2003 and 2015, illegal killing of 14,606 African bush elephants was reported by rangers across 29 range countries.
- Since 2004, it has been listed as Vulnerable specie on the IUCN Red List.
- {Vulnerable specie is a species which has been categorized as likely to become endangered unless the circumstances that are threatening its survival and reproduction improve.
Asian elephant:
- Asian elephant is also known as the Asiatic elephant.
- It is the only living species of the genus Elephas and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia.
- From India in the west, Nepal in the north, Sumatra in the south, and to Borneo in the east.
- Four subspecies of this elephant are recognized.
{E. m. Maximus from Sri Lanka.
{E. m. Indicus from mainland Asia.
{E. m. Sumatranus from the island of Sumatra.
{E. m. Borneensis from Sudan. - The Asian elephant is the largest living land animal in Asia.
- In 2003, the wild population was estimated at between 41,410 and 52,345 individuals.
- The skin of the Asian elephant is used as an ingredient in Chinese medicine as well as in the manufacture of ornamental beads.
Characteristics of Asian elephant:
General:
- The Asian elephant is smaller than the African bush elephant and has the highest body point on the head.
- The back is probably straight in level.
- The ears are small with dorsal borders folded laterally.
- It has up to 20 pairs of ribs and 34 caudal vertebrae.
- The feet have more nail-like structures than those of African elephants—five on each forefoot, and four on each hind foot.
- The forehead has two hemispherical bulges, unlike the flat front of the African elephant.
Size of Asian elephants:
- On average, males are about 2.75 m (9.0 ft) tall at the shoulder and 4 tons in weight.
- Females are smaller at about 2.4 m (7.9 ft) at the shoulder and 2.7 tons in weight.
Skin:
- Skin colour is usually grey, and may be masked by soil because of dusting and wallowing.
- {Wallowing is a behaviour in which an animal rolls its body about in mud, water or snow.
- Wrinkled skin of Asian elephant is movable and contains many nerve centres.
- Its skin is smoother than that of African elephants, and may be depigmented on the trunk, ears, or neck.
- The epidermis (upper layer of skin) and dermis (lower layer of skin) of the body average 18 mm (0.71 in) thick.
- They can tolerate cold better than excessive heat.
- Skin temperature differs from 24 to 32.9 °C (75.2 to 91.2 °F).
- Body temperature averages 35.9 °C (96.6 °F).
Intelligence of Asian elephants :
- Several students of elephant cognition and neuroanatomy says that Asian elephants are highly intelligent and self-aware.
- Asian elephants have knowledge and cognitive abilities of tool use and tool-making similar to great apes.
Threats for Asian elephants :
- Asian elephants are poached for ivory and a variety of other products including meat and leather.
- Since 1986, the Asian elephant has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
- { International Union for Conservation of Nature (Founded in 1964)
- The population of asian elephant has declined by at least 50 percent over the last three elephant generations, which is about 60–75 years.
African forest elephant:
- The African forest elephant is one of the two living African elephant species.
- It is native to humid forests in West Africa and the Congo Basin.
- It is the smallest of the three living elephant species, reaching a shoulder height of 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in).
- Both male and female have straight, downpointing tusks, which erupt when they are 1–3 years old.
- It lives in family groups of up to 20 individuals.
- The African forest elephant is distributed in the Upper Guinean forests, Ivory Coast and Ghana.
- The largest stable population of African forest elephant lives in Gabon.
- Once young bulls reach sexual maturity, they separate from the family group and form loose bachelor groups for a few days
- Usually an adult stay alone.
- Adult bulls associate with family groups only during the mating season.
- Family groups travel about 7.8 km (4.8 mi) per day.
Characteristics of African forest elephants:
General:
- African forest elephants have five toenails on their fore feet and four on their hind feet.
- Their oval-shaped ears have small elliptical-shaped tips.
- They have large ears that helps to reduce body heat.
- Their tusks are straight and point downwards.
Skin:
- The African forest elephant has a grey skin, which looks yellow to reddish after wallowing.
- {Wallowing is a behaviour in which an animal rolls its body about in mud, water or snow.
- It is sparsely (rarely) covered with black coarse (thick) hair, which is 20–200 mm (0.8–8 in) long around the tip of the tail.
Size:
- Bulls (Male elephant) reach a shoulder height of 2.4–3.0 m (7.9ft to 9.8 ft).
- Females are smaller at about 1.8–2.4 m (5.9ft to 7.9 ft) tall at the shoulder.
- Their foot print size ranges from 12.5 cm to 35.3 cm (4.9 in to 13.9 in).
Threats:
- Not only African forest elephant but also its both species are threatened foremost by habitat loss.
- Habitat fragmentation following conversion of forests for plantations of non-timber crops, livestock farming, these are also threats for thelr lives.
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