African Bush Elephant

Information and Inspirational quotes about this iconic gentle giant[]

Elephants are magnificent creatures.

~ Paul Craig Roberts.

Only elephants should own ivory.

~ Yao Ming.

I bet elephants get together and make fun of how large your ears are.

~ Katara (Avatar: The Last Airbender).

When elephants fight, it is grass that suffers.

~ Kikuyu Proverb.

People don't realize how amazing elephants are.

~ Prince Harry.

When I was born there were one million elephants roaming Africa. By time my daughter Charlotte was born, the numbers of savannah elephants has crashed to just 350,000. And at the current pace of illegal poaching, when Charlotte turns 25 the African elephant will be gone from the wild.

~ HRH The Duke of Cambridge. KG KT.

The Elephant does not get tired of his tusks.

~ Maasai Proverb.

The elephant hath joints, but none for courtesy; his legs are legs for necessity, not flexure

~ William Shakespeare.

Perhaps one of the world’s most emotive and iconic animals, the African bush or savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana) is the largest living terrestrial mammal, with the largest recorded individual reaching a massive four meters at the shoulder and weighing an impressive ten tons. The African bush elephant’s brain is bigger than that of any other animal and its skull is exceptionally large, having evolved to support the trunk and the heavy teeth and jaws. The skull comprises up to 25 percent of the elephant’s total body weight. Elephants are unusual among mammals in that they continue to grow throughout their life, although the rate at which they grow slows after they reach sexual maturity. The hefty body of the African bush elephant is supported by stocky, pillar-like legs which have thick, heavy, vertically-aligned bones. The African bush elephant has four toes on the forefeet and three toes on the hind feet, unlike both the African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) and the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), which each have five toes on the front feet and four toes on the hind feet. The feet are broad and the toes are embedded in a fatty substance which cushions the weight of the animal and enables it to move more quietly. The thick skin of the African bush elephant is generally dull brownish-grey, with a sparse scattering of black, bristly hairs. The skin is wrinkly and adapted for keeping the body cool, as the wrinkles increase the surface area of the skin, trapping moisture which then takes much longer to evaporate than if the skin was smooth. The end of the tail is flattened and has a tuft, of course, crooked hairs. characteristic outward-curving tusks of the African bush elephant are actually elongated upper incisors, which are formed from a unique composition of calcareous materials. Both the male and female African bush elephant have tusks and, like the rest of the body, the tusks continue to grow throughout the elephant’s life. The upper lip and nose of all elephant species are elongated and muscular, forming the distinctive trunk. The African bush elephant uses its trunk to form and amplify vocalizations, to feed from the ground and from trees and shrubs, to break off branches, and to pick leaves, shoots, and fruits. It is also used to aid drinking, greeting, touching and other social behaviors. The end of the trunk has two prehensile finger-like lips which are covered in fine, sensory hairs. The large, oversized ears of the African bush elephant are distinguished from other elephant species by the presence of overhanging flaps along the upper edges. As well as playing a role in communication, the ears are also important in temperature regulation and heat loss. A rich network of blood vessels is found immediately beneath the thin skin which covers the back of the ears, and when temperatures rise the ears are fanned to help increase the flow of air and cool the blood through evaporation. African bush elephants use sounds well below the range of human hearing to communicate over long distances. An elephant can eat 600 pounds (272 kilograms) of food a day. Unlike the Asian elephants, both sexes of this species have tusks and have a concave shaped back, and two fingered trunks. They're listed as endangered by the IUCN since 2021.

Distribution and natural habitat[]

Main article:African bush elephant Distribution and habitat.

The African bush elephant occurs where they live are in Sub-Saharan Africa including Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Zambia, Angola, Mozambique, Rwanda, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Malawi and South Africa.

Behavior and ecology[]

Social Behavior[]

Main article:African_bush_elephant Behavior and ecology.

TBA

Natural predators[]

The main predators to the African bush elephant are Lions, Spotted Hyenas and mostly Humans for ivory.

Reproduction[]

TBA

Animal Symbolism[]

Many African culture reveres the African Elephant as a symbol of strength and power. Also praised for its size, longevity, stamina, mental faculties, cooperative spirit and loyalty. South Africa uses elephant tusks in their coat of arms to present wisdom, strength, moderation and eternity.

Diet[]

Like other elephants, African bush elephants are herbivores, mainly eating leaves, grass, bamboo, bark, and fruit.

Animal Intelligence[]

Elephants are exceptionally smart creatures. They have the largest brain of any land animal, and three times as many neurons as humans. While many of these neurons exist to control the elephant's large and dexterous body, these creatures have demonstrated their impressive mental capabilities time and time again.

Animal strength[]

What makes African elephants different? An elephant's trunk is a appendage, with more than 40,000 muscles and tendons that can lift more 400 pounds at once. Yet its sensitive tip has two finger-like projections, which an elephant can use to manipulate very small objects. The African bush elephant was also used to be warriors in capable of fighting by legendary Carthaginian general, statesman and warrior Hannibal. Here's the main video about this history: [1] and here's the main article about the war elephant Surus: Surus.

Vocalizations[]

African bush elephants produce range of sounds from very low frequency rumbles to higher frequency snorts, barks, roars, cries, trumpets and other idiosyncratic sounds. The most frequently used type of call is the very low rumble. Here are three video examples:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAQ_rkJlGJc , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y9jZlYEMDg and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZQCvDH5KWo

Lifespan[]

They can live up from 70 to 80 years in the wild. Reduced to 30-40 years in captivity.

Size[]

The size of an adult African bush elephant is 13 feet tall. Males can weigh 14,000 lb, females can weigh up to 7,700 lb.

Speed[]

The African bush elephant can move fast by 25 miles per hour. They don't gallop like a zebra, a giraffe or a rhino (Due to their physiology) and move smoothly to faster speeds by trotting without markedly changing their kinematics, yet with a shift from vaulting to bouncing kinetics, And when they swim, they can keep their hooves off the ground and their heads above the water, but they cannot leap out of the water like a hippo. Here are the three videos showing about how they move faster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgGpfxzQkNM, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTHzlUQDGmc and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O864gkhquwk.

Gallery[]

Population and growth[]

Since 2021, the African bush elephant has individually been asserted Endangered, after the global population was found to have decreased by more than 50% over 3 generations. About 70% of its range is located outside protected areas. In 2016, experts estimated that Africa's elephant population had dropped by 111,000 elephants in the span of a decade. Today, there are just 415,000 elephants across Africa.

African Bush Elephant

Information and Inspirational quotes about this iconic gentle giant[]

Distribution and natural habitat[]

Behavior and ecology[]

Social Behavior[]

Natural predators[]

Reproduction[]

Animal Symbolism[]

Diet[]

Animal Intelligence[]

Animal strength[]

Vocalizations[]

Lifespan[]

Size[]

Speed[]

Gallery[]

Population and growth[]

Videos[]

Computer-Animated short films[]

Nicolas Deveaux -7 Tonnes 3[]

Jungle Beat[]

Zax Boxall and Chris Turner's Bertie the Elephant[]

See also[]

External Links[]

Fan Feed