What kind of elephant is the largest. Elephants - description, species, range, nutrition, behavior, reproduction and facts. On the intelligence of elephants

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There were times when the kings of nature were creatures much larger than us - real prehistoric giants! And one of them still lives on Earth, can you imagine?

We are in website we can't decide what we'd like to do more - ride a paraceraterium or fly a quetzalcoatl.

Amphicelia

Amphicelia is the largest animal that has ever existed on Earth. These herbivorous dinosaurs lived 145-161 million years ago. One vertebra of amphicelia was equal to 2.5 meters.

Titanoboa

Titanoboa is a close relative of the boa constrictor. But much, much more. Titanoboa lived 58-61 million years ago and reached 13 meters in length. A modern reticulated python can grow up to a maximum of 7.5 meters.

Megalodon

Megalodons were apex predators that lived 3-28 million years ago. Only one megalodon tooth can hardly fit in the hands of an adult. Its length could reach 20 meters, and its weight reached 47 tons. Megalodon bite force was equal to 10 tons!

Argentavis

Argentavis lived 5–8 million years ago. This is one of the largest birds in the history of the Earth. Its wingspan reached almost 7 meters, and it fed on rodents.

bighorn deer

Large-horned (Irish) deer appeared a couple of million years ago. When the forests began to advance on open spaces, the big-horned deer died out - with their huge (more than 5 meters in span) horns, they simply could not move among the dense branches.

Giant short-faced bear

The giant short-faced bear (bulldog bear), having straightened up, reached a height of 3.5-4.5 meters and had incredibly powerful jaws. He was one of the largest predatory mammals that lived on Earth during the Ice Age. Males were much larger than females and could reach a weight of 1.5 tons. 14 thousand years ago, bulldog bears became extinct.

Gigantopithecus

Gigantopithecus are the largest great apes of all time. They lived about 1 million years ago. It is difficult to draw unambiguous conclusions from rare remains, but scientists believe that Gigantopithecus was 3–4 meters tall, weighed 300–550 kg, and ate mainly bamboo.

paraceratherium

Paraceratheria (indrycoteria) lived 20–30 million years ago. They are relatives of modern rhinos, but they did not have horns. Paraceratherium is one of the largest land mammals that has ever existed. They reached 5 meters in height and weighed up to 20 tons. Despite their imposing appearance, they were not predators and fed on the leaves and branches of trees.

Elephants are amazing animals. People have been admiring their mind, endurance and wisdom for more than one millennium. In addition, the elephant is the largest mammal living on land. These animals have a huge powerful body, large ears and a long trunk, with which you can not only eat, but also bathe or take objects. If elephants have tusks, unfortunately, endlessly attracting poachers, hunters for easy money. Usually the weight of the animal does not exceed eight tons, but an elephant weighing 12 tons has been recorded in history. How much does the largest elephant in the world currently weigh?

If we deviate from official facts in the direction of archival data, then the largest elephant would be an animal caught in Angola in the 19th century. It weighed almost 12.5 tons, and both tusks weighed at least half a centner each.

More recently, the title of the largest elephant in the world was received by an animal named Yossi. He lives in the Israeli zoo "Safari" and is quite old. His age has already exceeded three decades, and he weighs 6000 kg. The tail length of Yossi is 100 cm, the ears are about twenty meters, and the trunk is two and a half meters. He is about four meters tall.

The elephant is the so-called "elder" of the zoo.

Because of his size, he can hardly push through the gates of his pen, he even has to squat for this. Veterinarians agree that such physical exercises do not harm him, but, on the contrary, are beneficial.

The largest animals belong to this species. Compared to its Asian relative, it is much larger, and both males and females have tusks. The largest and heaviest elephant in history, weighing 12 tons and 7 meters high, belonged to the African species. Even their individual tusks can weigh up to 200 kilograms. Tusks are needed both for protection against predators (although few dare to attack such giants, except for the old and sick), and for digging the earth and skinning tree bark.

In the wild, they can be found in Zimbabwe, Senegal or Namibia.

Of course, the height and weight of the animal is largely dependent on nutrition. In good conditions, elephants eat about 1.5 centners of food per day, females a little less. Actually, about 2/3 of the day it takes them only to absorb food, only two hours to sleep, and the rest - to search for food. During the dry season, they have to travel many kilometers in search of food and drink. The main delicacies of giants are grass and young tree shoots. If possible, eat fruit. However, only about half of this amount of food is digested.

The habitat of African elephants used to be the entire African continent, but now the range has been significantly reduced due to human fault. Most of these animals have found refuge in the national parks of the Congo, Tanzania and Kenya.

This animal is significantly inferior in size to its African counterpart. The largest representative of this species was killed in 1924, its weight exceeded 8 tons. The tusks of the Asian elephant are several times smaller than those of the African, and are not present in all individuals.

Initially, these animals lived throughout Southeast Asia, from the Malay Peninsula to Mesopotamia, as well as on some Indonesian islands, the Himalayas and certain regions of China. Now the range is greatly reduced, there are fragments in India, Malaysia, Thailand, Bhutan and some other regions.

In Sri Lanka, there is a subspecies of elephants without tusks, which are called makhna in the local dialect.

Moreover, biologists have identified as many as five subspecies of the Asian elephant:

• Indian, whose males have not yet lost their tusks;
• Sri Lankan - has a large head without tusks with spots on the forehead and at the base of the trunk;
• the Bornean is a rather small animal, but with very large ears and almost straight tusks;
• Sumatran - one of the smallest elephants, he was even nicknamed "pocket";
• a separate subspecies living in Sri Lanka. This elephant is quite tall, 30 centimeters taller than the standard Indian elephant. There are only about 100 of them left.

Elephants usually live about 6-7 decades. Officially recognized as the longest-lived elephant from Taiwan, who died in 2003, Lin-Wan. This "veteran" was used by the Chinese from 1934 to 1957 during armed conflicts with the Japanese.

It is worth noting that the elephant is often considered a serious pest for agriculture. And not without reason: it happens that they destroy whole herds of rice, sugarcane or banana plantations. And, despite their impressive complexion, these animals run pretty fast, especially in case of panic: then they will crush anyone who gets in their way, or they can even demolish a brick wall.

At the time of death, the animal was 86 years old.

Unfortunately, the number of these beautiful animals is steadily declining. The reasons for this are as follows:

• killing by poachers hunting for meat and tusks;
• persecution by villagers trying to protect their land;
• general environmental degradation associated with human activities;
• despite their size, elephants quite often die under the wheels of road transport.

Elephants are one of the few animals capable of conscious emotion. They mourn when their neighbor dies, especially if it is a newborn baby elephant. And from good events they rejoice and even laugh in their own way. If a small cub falls to the ground, an adult (not necessarily a parent) will certainly extend its trunk to it to help it get up. They very often hug, using trunks for this.

Elephants are the largest land animals. These amazing animals have a powerful trunk with which they do almost everything. Here are some interesting facts about elephants.

So, the most interesting facts about elephants:

• Like dolphins, elephants can easily communicate with each other using low-frequency signals and noises that the human ear cannot recognize.

• An elephant's heart can weigh up to 30 kg, but because it's so big, it only beats about 30 times per minute.

• September 22 is the official day for the protection of elephants.

• As a rule, elephants live no more than 70 years, although among them there are centenarians.

• Elephants carry their young for 22 months, which is the longest gestation of any land creature.

• Elephants cannot jump or run fast, but they are excellent swimmers and feel good in the water.

• The largest elephant in history is an elephant named Jumbo, who was born in 1861 and died after a collision with a train. At the time of his death, he was 24 years old, and he was 4 meters in height.

• In total, there are 2 types of elephants - Asian and African. Although, of course, each species has several more subspecies (African bush elephant or, for example, Asian bush elephant, etc.)

• As a rule, herds of elephants consist mainly of relatives and can number hundreds, and sometimes thousands of individuals.

• Elephants are highly developed and intelligent animals. They tend to help each other in any situation, take care when someone gets sick. They also tend to rejoice and generally experience emotions, and even feel sad when someone from their herd dies.

• At the beginning of the 20th century, there were two public executions of elephants. In 1903, Topsy the elephant was electrocuted for trampling 3 people. 13 years later, another elephant named Big Mary was executed for a similar crime. They decided to execute her by hanging on a crane.

• Another very remarkable and interesting fact. Ivory is not only the naming of elephant tusks. In addition to them, this term is called the fangs of a hippopotamus, the fangs of walruses. Mammoth tusks and even sperm whale teeth. It's all ivory.)

• If you look at the leg of an elephant with the help of an X-ray, you can see that he walks as if on his fingers, i.e. on tiptoe, and his heel is raised. Thus, the entire load goes to the fingers, and this entire massive leg inside practically consists of one fat.

• Elephants drink an average of 100-200 liters per day, and their trunk can hold up to 8 liters of water.

• Most of the time the elephant spends eating (about 16 hours).

The largest elephant in the world An elephant is considered the largest animal living on earth - it boasts an excellent memory, it can distinguish simple songs. In general, it lends itself well to learning. Did you know that there is an elephant that can paint a whole picture using its own trunk?

What is the largest elephant? A massive body, huge ears, a long trunk and a couple more tusks, although the latter are not inherent in everyone. These colossi chose Africa and India as their residence. Elephants often take a mud shower - this is how they escape from annoying insects. The mud, drying up, forms a crust that, like a shell, protects its thick skin. It is officially recorded that the largest elephant weighs 12,000 kg. Usually, their weight does not exceed eight thousand kilograms.

In the jewelry industry, there is a great demand for tusks - they are used to make original jewelry that is very popular. Poachers during the hunt are not stopped by the fact that elephants are listed in the Red Book. In India, elephants are used to facilitate labor - elephants make a good vehicle, especially in difficult places. On the African peninsula, such treatment of animals is not practiced.

The diet of elephants consists of plants, they can gnaw on the bark of trees. They prefer to eat carrots, they are unlikely to resist an apple. Elephants have a terrible sweet tooth, and are able to stand indefinitely near the fence of the enclosure in the hope that they will be treated to a sweet treat. FROM a large number of sweets, animals not only get fat, but also become addicted to sweets.

Asian elephants

There are three types of elephants living in Azi - Sri Lankan, Indian, Sumatran. Of the Sri Lankan individuals, the most prominent is an elephant 3.5 m high and weighing 5.5 tons. He lives on the island after which he is named. The Indian elephant is not uncommon; you can meet him in any of the Asian countries. It weighs no more than 5 tons. The smallest Sumatran - growth is 2.5 m, and weight - three tons.

African elephant

These are the largest animals on the planet. In nature, there are two types of African elephants - savanna and forest. The first of them can weigh up to eight tons and grow up to four meters, the latter are inferior to them in their parameters - no more than five tons and three meters in height. These are very friendly animals, fights and quarrels rarely arise between relatives. Usually they live in one large herd, take care of the cubs, and do not leave the sick in trouble. During mating, due to the increased level of testosterone, elephants can be aggressive, and only during this period can one elephant injure another member of its kind. With females, the relationship is tender - after looking at the couple, the elephants move a short distance from the herd and there, far from prying eyes, they indulge in mutual caresses.

Until the baby elephants are five years old, they are under the tireless attention of their mother, upon reaching 15 years old, the elephant becomes an adult. In the savannah, young elephants are in danger - lions. One largest elephant is able to eat 100 kg of grass - often these good-natured creatures cause the death of shrubs and trees. Due to the destruction of green spaces, the shooting of these large animals was allowed. The average age of the life of an African giant is 60-70 years. Unlike their Indian relatives, African ones are much more difficult to train.

Elephant Yossi

The world's largest elephant lives at the Safari Zoo in Israel. He has reached a very respectable age - he is 32 years old, but continues to grow and is already barely squeezing through the gate leading to the courtyard - to overcome them, the elephant has to squat - the only way he can be on a walk. Experts believe that such a kind of exercise only benefits the animal. An elephant named Yossi became the tallest elephant ever to live in captivity. Now its height is 3.7 m. Its weight is 6 tons, the tail of an elephant is 1 meter, the trunk is 2.5 meters, ears = 1.2 meters. According to assumptions, the reasons for growth lie in the genes. An important factor is a complete meal.

Since ancient times, people have learned to use elephants for heavy work - transporting heavy burdens, people. Repeatedly took part in bloody battles. But you should not hang an unbearable burden on an elephant - an elephant is not omnipotent and is not able to lift a load that is more than a quarter of its weight.

Ecology

It is extremely tempting to present the title of the most intriguing animal in the world to one of the highest primates. Chimpanzees have much more in common with us, and if nature gave them another chromosome, they could give up bananas and pick up cubes.

But below, we'll take a look at species that are a bit harder to humanize (but hardly impossible, given Dumbo's incredible mid-air twist). The elephant is the largest land animal on our planet. The most massive elephant in the history of mankind weighed 26,000 pounds. The list below presents the lives and strange deaths of the most famous elephants that have walked the earth.

10. Abul Abbas

In 797, Haroun al-Rashid, Caliph of Baghdad, presented Charlemagne, King of the Franks and Roman Emperor with a watch inside which a bird was constructed that chirped after every passing hour. He also gave him an Asian elephant. Although it must be assumed that Charlemagne was fascinated by the cuckoo clock, the thick-skinned animal apparently made no less impression on him.

Unfortunately, very little reliable information about Charlemagne has been preserved in history, and the situation is the same with references to Abul Abbas. It is known, for example, that the elephant was used in the battle against the Danes. In 810, when the elephant was over forty years old, he died of pneumonia, which he caught during one of his frequent baths in the Rhine. Naturally, exotic animal veterinarians were a rarity at the time.

9. Old Bat

On April 13, 1796, the second elephant in the life of the mainland arrived in America on a private armed ship. Oddly enough, but the entry about the border crossing by an elephant was made in the usual logbook by a certain Nathaniel Hawthorne (Nathaniel Hathorne). The elephant, named Old Bat, was put on public display in the early 1800s.

Some time later, a farmer named Hachaliah Bailey purchased it for use on his farm. But he soon realized that he could earn much more money if he traveled with an elephant around the country than forcing him to pull a plow on a farm. He organized a traveling menagerie and made the main bet on the elephant.

Admission to the show for a single family cost one coin or two gallons of rum. Bailey claims that Old Bat was killed on a tour on July 24, 1816, by a farmer who considered it sinful for the poor to squander their limited funds on such trifles as the circus.

8-7. Castor and Pollux

Paris, despite its deep cultural heritage, has faced a huge amount of unrest over the years, moreover, 1870 was one of the darkest periods in the history of the city. German troops then surrounded the capital of France, Paris was blocked and besieged.

Since the French had no outside access to food supplies, they began to eat all the animals that were at hand. Their menu included dogs in tomato sauce and cats with mushrooms. Then they got to the animals in the zoo. Castor and Pollux, two elephants, were among the first. Named after the twins, they were sold to local executioners.

Wealthy English politician and writer Henry Du Pre Labouchere tasted the "delicacy" and commented as follows: "Yesterday I ate part of Pollux. Pollux and his brother Castor are two elephants who were killed. fatty meat, I do not recommend to English families to eat it while it is possible to eat beef or mutton.

6. Jumbo

Perhaps the most famous elephant that ever lived was Jumbo, a huge African member of its genus, caught in Ethiopia in 1869. He spent several years at the London Zoo, but was eventually sold in 1882 to the showman Barnum for $10,000.

Jumbo, whose name has become the most common synonym for the word "big", got his nickname from the Swahili word "Jambo" (meaning "hello") or "Jumbo" ("chief"). He was in fact exceptionally huge, at least 12 feet tall.

On September 15, 1885, the circus intended to travel to Ontario, Canada. Jumbo and a little elephant named Tom Thumb were heading to their pen when suddenly an unexpected train began to call into the station. The baby elephant "caught" a glancing blow and broke his leg, while Jumbo suffered much more, his skull was crushed. In the last moments of the elephant's life, its trainer knelt down and cried like a child, holding Jumbo's trunk in his hands.

After his death, it was found that the stomach of the beloved elephant was simply littered with coins, keys, various rivets and even whistles. His skeleton was donated to the Natural History Museum in New York and his heart was sold to Cornell University. For several years after his death, Barnum carried his effigy with him on tour. In 1889, he finally decided to finally say goodbye to Jumbo and presented his effigy to Tufts University, whose mascot he later became.

5. Topsy

Any exploration of Coney Island in Brooklyn must include the sad story of Topsy, who had to face the self-serving wizard Thomas Edison. Topsy was a form of entertainment at the Forepaugh Circus and was often heavily bullied. There is a case when they tried to feed her with a lit cigarette. Topsy was later sentenced to death in the most murderous way.

The great inventor Thomas Edison tried all his life to prove that his DC model was more efficient and safer than the AC model. Edison, being a shrewd if somewhat ruthless businessman, decided that the best way to debunk AC technology was to demonstrate how electricity works on a defenseless animal.

Surely if he could show the American public that alternating current was enough to kill such a huge beast, no sane person would risk their family's safety to use it.

Shortly before the "presentation" he began working with Topsy, feeding her a carrot with the addition of 460 grams of potassium cyanide. They then tied metal discs to her legs and hit her with 6,600 volts of force. About 1500 people watched this spectacle, Topsy died in a matter of seconds. Edison ultimately lost the "electric war", however, the case of Topsy brought him unprecedented popularity, because the film with the record of the animal's death was shown in cinemas around the world for a long time.

4. Maria

Maria was a five-ton Asian elephant who competed in the Sparks World Famous circus show. Her death overtook her in the person of Walter Eldridge, a new circus corpse worker, in September 1916. When he first approached her, she picked him up with her trunk and banged her head against the wall several times, crushing him completely. Seeking justice, the local blacksmith decided that Maria should pay for what she had done.

However, if you have a big gun and a big target, shooting an elephant is a pretty bad idea. A few dozen bullets fired by him at Maria did little to no harm to her, then he decided that she should be hanged. A crowd of 2,500 people, many of whom were children, gathered to watch the seemingly never-before-seen spectacle. A noose chain and an industrial crane wagon lifted her up, but someone forgot to free her ankles from the chains, it was a terrible moment when the elephant hung in agony.

Eyewitnesses speak of hearing tendons tearing at her ankles. The chain around her neck gave way, she collapsed to the ground and broke her hips. The next attempt was more successful. The photographs of Mary hanging in the air have survived decades, and although looking at them today you might think that they are Photoshop, in fact, they are quite real.

3. Black Diamond

A huge Indian elephant, weighing about 18 tons, belonged to the Al G. Barnes circus. He was very naughty, so he was kept chained to the elephant to calm down during the show to the public. October 12, 1929 in Texas, he once again decided to "show character" by injuring his former trainer and killing a woman.

When they finally managed to calm him down, the circus decided that he was too dangerous to take part in the show in the future. At first they tried to poison him, however, the elephant turned out to be overly perceptive. Black Diamond was shot by Hans Nagel, a zoo guard, but at least 60 bullets had to be fired at him before he collapsed to the ground.

2. Hanno

Pope Leo X received Hanno as a gift during his coronation from King Manuel I of Portugal. Pope loved his pet very much and often showed it to those who wished. Hanno was a white elephant with a pink tint, and to this day animals of this color are considered sacred in the culture of Southeast Asia.

Two years later, Hanno suddenly became ill. Again due to the poor understanding of medicine at the time, the elephant was fed a laxative with golden particles and died on June 8, 1516. The Pope's heart was broken.

1. Taik

By 1994, the technological media were advanced enough to capture the rampage of an elephant for posterity. Indeed, several video cameras were in operation on August 20 during the performance of the Hawthorn Circus. During the show, a 20-year-old elephant named Taik, known for her restless, to put it mildly, character, threw a tantrum.

In front of hundreds of frightened witnesses, she killed her trainer Allen Campbell (Allen Campbell), and then went to roam the streets of the city. In horror, the crowd quickly dispersed, leaving several people injured to varying degrees. Freed from the nets, dressed in a bright red headdress, Taik stormed the streets of the city.

A man named Steve Hirano tried to stop the rebellion by closing the gates of the parking lot, however, this did not stop the furious elephant. Steve's life was saved by the police, who started firing into the air to scare her. However, the restless elephant had to be calmed down only by emptying all the clips into her.

After over 80 bullets, Tyke finally gave up. She fell on the road and died from massive damage to the nervous system and from a brain hemorrhage. Surely many of you have seen footage from the scene, this is a truly shocking sight.