The largest animal on earth. Types of elephants. Elephants (lat. Elephantidae) How many species of elephants exist in the world

The African savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana) is the largest land animal on our planet. Males of these mammals grow up to 3.5 meters and weigh on average up to 5 tons. However, there are specimens of much greater height (up to 7.5 meters) and weighing up to seven tons. Almost all adult males lead a solitary lifestyle and contact their relatives only during the mating season.

And the elephant herd is led by an old and experienced elephant. In addition to the leader of the herd, the families of thick-skinned giants include her younger sisters and her daughters, adolescent males and baby elephants.

How many species of elephants are there in the world?

Usually, when asked how many species of elephants live on our planet, many answer that there are two: (this is the one that is very large and with mug ears) and (the one with a humped back, a forehead head and small round ears). In reality, this is not at all true and today there is much more in nature. Even exactly how much has not yet been finally clarified.

Straight-tusked forest elephant

In 1990, zoologists described the African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis). This completely new species is very different from the famous African elephant, so much so that scientists were forced to distinguish it as an independent species. Forest elephants are shorter than their savannah counterparts, their tusks point downward and are straighter. The savanna elephant holds its head high. The forest elephant, on the contrary, seems to be slouching. The skin of a savanna elephant is lighter and not as smooth as that of a forest elephant.

Dwarf elephant

In the thickets of dense forests Central Africa lives another species of elephant, which is assigned Latin name– Loxodonta pumilio. This is translated as “dwarf elephant.” Humid tropical African forests Other species of elephants that are still unknown may also live there. And periodically there are reports of the discovery of species of these amazing animals unknown to science.

The biggest danger to elephants is wildlife are poachers who kill elephants for their tusks. I would like to recommend the film. True, this movie is not entirely about elephants, but it’s still interesting.

There are two species of elephant - African elephant (genus: Loxodonta) and Asian elephants(Elephas maximus). They are different, but there are still some striking differences. African elephants number approximately 500,000, while the number of Asian elephants is declining dramatically, with less than 30,000 remaining. Of these two species, African elephants are further divided into two species (savannah and forest), while Asian elephants are divided into four species (Sri Lankan, Indian, Sumartan and Borneo). Elephants, like people, are capable of change, and change depending on their character, emotions and personal qualities (individual characteristics). Asian elephants have been very important to Asian culture for thousands of years - they have been domesticated and are now used as vehicle in difficult terrain, for carrying heavy objects such as logs, and at festivals and the circus. Currently, the Indian elephant is the largest, with longer front legs and a slimmer body than its Thai counterparts. We will dwell in more detail on Thai elephants, although of course these characteristics apply to all types of Asian Elephants. Let's pay attention to some small details. Using our own experience and taking into account information from numerous other sources, we will tell you our own interpretation.

Asian elephants

They are officially considered an endangered species; in Thailand their numbers reach only 3,000-4,000. About half of them are domesticated, the rest live in the wild in National Parks and Reserves. Around 300 are suffering in Bangkok's deplorable conditions. It is known that at the beginning of the 20th century (1900 AD) more than 100,000 elephants lived in Siam (Thai) rural areas. Asian elephants are smaller than African ones. They have smaller ears, and only males have tusks.

The first species is the Sri Lankan elephant (Elephas maximus maximus). They live on the island of Sri Lanka. A large male can reach 5,400 kg (12,000 lb) and be over 3.4 m (11 ft) tall. Sri Lankan males have very convex skulls. Their head, trunk and belly are usually bright pink.

Another species, the Indian Elephant (Elephas maximus indicus) makes up most number of Asian elephants. There are about 36,000 of them, they are light gray, with depigmentation only on the ears and trunk. A large male averages only 5,000 kg (11,000 lb), but they are still as tall as the Sri Lankan. Indian elephants are found in eleven Asian countries, from India to Indonesia. They prefer forests and areas between forests and fields where a greater variety of food is available to them.

The smallest group of elephants is the Sumartan elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus). There are only 2100 - 3000 individuals. They are very light gray with pink only on the ears. A mature Sumartan elephant reaches only 1.7-2.6 m (5.6-8.5 ft) in height and weighs less than 3,000 kg (6,600 lb). Although it is, of course, a huge animal in any case, the Sumartan elephant is nevertheless much smaller than any other Asian (and African) and exists only on the island of Sumatra, usually in forests and groves.

In 2003, another species of elephant was discovered on the island of Borneo. They were called Borneo Dwarf Elephants, they are smaller and calmer, more docile than other Asian elephants. They have relatively big ears, more a long tail and straighter fangs.

African elephants

Elephants of the genus Loxodonta, known as African elephants, are currently found in 37 countries in Africa. The African elephant is the largest living land animal. It is characterized by a massive, heavy body, a large head on a short neck, thick limbs, huge ears and a long, muscular trunk. The most striking difference from Asian ones is the ears. Africans have them much larger and are shaped like the continent of their origin. Both male and female African elephants have tusks and are typically less hairy than their Asian counterparts. Tusks grow throughout an elephant's life and serve as an indicator of its age. Historically African elephants observed throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, the area where elephants live has been greatly reduced. The African elephant has become completely extinct in Burundi, Gambia and Mauritania. individual species preserved further north, in Mali. Despite their wide distribution area, elephants are mainly concentrated in national parks and reserves. Traditionally, there are two species of African elephants, namely the Savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana africana) and the Forest elephant (Loxodonta africana cyclotis).

The African savannah elephant is the largest of all elephants. In fact, it is the largest animal on Earth in the world, reaching 4 m (13 ft) in height and weighing approximately 7,000 kg (7.7 tons). The average male is about 3 m (10 ft) tall and 5500-6000 kg (6.1-6.6 tons) in weight, the female is much smaller. Most often, Savannah elephants are found in open fields, swamps, and on the shores of lakes. They mainly live in the savannah and migrate south from the Sahara Desert.

Compared to the Savannah Elephant, the ears of the African Forest Elephant are usually smaller and more rounded, and the tusks are thinner and straighter. The forest elephant weighs up to 4,500 kg (10,000 lb) and reaches a height of 3 m (10 ft). Much less is known about these animals than about their savannah counterparts - the emerging political differences and the living conditions of the Forest African elephants hinder their study. Typically, they inhabit impenetrable tropical forests of the central and West Africa. The largest populations of Forest Elephants are currently found in Southern and Eastern Africa.

Elephants are unique animals in their anatomy and physiology. They are so different from all other mammals that they are separated into an independent order of Proboscis, which includes only 2 species. Much is known in fossil form more types extinct proboscideans, of which the most famous is the mammoth. Currently, only African and Indian elephants have survived.

African elephants (Loxodonta africana).

The appearance of these animals is as similar as elephants are different from all other animals. The first thing that catches your eye is the size. Elephants are truly giants of the animal world, the largest of all land creatures. The Indian elephant reaches a height of 2.5 m and a weight of 3-5 tons, the African elephant is even larger - its height reaches 4 m and its weight is 5-7 tons. The body of elephants is very massive, the head is relatively large, the legs are proportionally powerful and thick. The ears also reach considerable sizes, but the eyes, on the contrary, are very small. An elephant's range of vision is not very good, but its hearing is excellent. An elephant can hear thunder at a distance of up to 100 km! This hearing is explained by the fact that elephants are able to hear (and produce) infrasounds. Herds of elephants use these sounds to communicate over long distances, because low-frequency waves travel long distances. Elephants' ears are very mobile and the animals constantly wave them. On the one hand, the extensive surface of the ears, through which blood is pumped, helps cool the body (this is especially noticeable in the African elephant); on the other hand, the ears perform a communicative function. By moving their ears, elephants greet their fellow tribesmen and threaten their enemies.

In the midday heat, the elephant flaps its ears to cool off.

But the most unusual organ of an elephant is, of course, the trunk. The trunk is not a nose, as many people think, but a completely unique organ formed by the fused nose and upper lip. At the same time, the trunk has own system powerful muscles and tendons. Thanks to this structure, the trunk has both strength and flexibility. The power of the trunk is such that with its help the elephant is able to destroy trees and lift logs. At the end of the trunk there is a mobile and sensitive outgrowth, with the help of which the elephant is able to touch and manipulate the smallest objects. Elephants recognize the texture of various surfaces well; they can, for example, pick up coins or paint with a brush. The trunk plays an irreplaceable role in the life of an elephant: the animal needs it to obtain food, protect itself, and communicate.

Trunk hugs are a mandatory attribute of friendly relations.

Elephants also drink water with the help of their trunk, because a tall and short-necked elephant cannot drink with its mouth. Only baby elephants can suck their mothers with their mouths, while adult elephants suck in water with their trunks and then pour them into their mouths. Elephants, deprived of their trunks due to injury, try to graze on their knees, but eventually die.

The elephant's powerful body is covered with thick and rough skin. It is dotted with numerous deep wrinkles. Adult elephants are practically hairless, and newborn elephant calves are covered with sparse, stiff bristles. The color of elephants is uniform gray or brownish.

The elephant's skin is covered with sparse bristles.

With its size and build, the elephant gives the impression of a clumsy and noisy animal. When they want to emphasize a person’s awkwardness they say “like a bull in a china shop.” But this opinion is also wrong. The elephant moves almost silently. This effect is achieved thanks to special structure soles, it springs when pressure is applied to the foot, and then takes on its original shape. By the way, the hind legs of an elephant, unlike other quadrupeds, bend forward.

An elephant's toes have tiny hooves.

But, as it turns out, elephants have another paradox in store. The fact is that the massive elephant skull contains relatively small size. It would seem that animals with such a brain structure should not be distinguished by intelligence, but elephants are one of the smartest mammals.

Elephants live in tropical zone. The African elephant's range extends along the equator and south to the Cape region. These animals once inhabited northern part continent, but with the expansion of the Sahara Desert they were forced to retreat south. Indian elephants live on the Hindustan Peninsula and Indochina. African elephant populations occur in both dense tropical forests, and in open savannas bordering semi-deserts. Indian elephants are exclusively forest dwellers. Both species of elephants lead a herd lifestyle. Elephant herds consist of females with young animals, led by an old, experienced elephant. Males always keep to themselves, joining the herd only during mating. Elephants maintain a sensitive relationship with each other. All members of the herd are related to each other family ties and old animals help young ones take care of their offspring. Elephants are also very attached to their mother and enjoy universal care. There are no fights between elephants except during the mating season, when males engage in fierce fights for the possession of a female.

African elephants during a mating fight.

In other cases, elephants show mutual assistance: they immediately respond to the alarming cry of their fellow tribesman, unanimously come to his defense and even help their wounded brothers. Elephants communicate using low uterine sounds, and in case of danger they emit a loud trumpet roar. Elephants have an exceptional memory, they remember places of watering and feeding for many miles around, they recognize their fellow tribesmen after long separation. The high level of social connections in elephants is manifested in another phenomenon - elephants are able to recognize deceased brothers. When a herd of elephants comes across the skeleton of a dead animal, they stop and become quiet. Sometimes elephants touch the skeleton with their trunk and feel it; apparently, elephants are able to identify the “personality” of a dead brother.

Elephants feed on plant foods - branches of trees and shrubs, leaves and fruits. An elephant eats up to 100 kg of food per day.

An African elephant breaks a tree to get to the foliage.

Elephants chew food with large molars, which change as they wear down. In search of food, they are helped by tusks - a pair of giant incisors protruding from the mouth. In African elephants, their size can reach 2-3 m; in the Indian elephant, tusks are shorter and only occur in males.

The male Indian elephant (Elephas maximus) has record tusks for its species. They had to be cut down because they stuck to the ground.

Elephants use their tusks as levers to uproot trees and also use them in battles for mates. African elephants use their tusks to strip the bark of baobab trees in search of juicy, loose wood. These animals also need to drink plenty of water and walk many kilometers to watering holes. By the way, elephants love to swim, pouring water on themselves from their trunk; they are excellent swimmers. A swimming elephant plunges headlong into the water, exposing only the tip of its trunk.

An Indian elephant swims underwater.

Although elephants prefer to move at a leisurely pace, they can run quickly, reaching speeds of up to 50 km/h.

Elephant mating is not confined to any specific season. IN mating season males secrete a dark secretion from the parotid gland, at this time they are very aggressive and dangerous to others. An elephant's pregnancy lasts 20-22 months. She gives birth to one calf weighing 90-100 kg.

The baby elephant sucks milk with its mouth, not its trunk.

Elephants' nipples are not located in the groin, as in all four-legged animals, but between the front legs, as in primates. A baby elephant needs care until it is 5 years old, but even as an adult it remains attached to its mother and other relatives (grandmother, aunts). Often, when moving, elephant calves hold onto their mother's tail with their trunk. Elephants become adults at the age of 12-15 years, and live up to 60-70 years.

It would seem that the largest animal cannot have natural enemies. Indeed, adult elephants are practically invulnerable, although they sometimes conflict with rhinoceroses for a place at a watering hole. However, little elephant calves are defenseless against attacks by lions and crocodiles. Only these predators dare to attack elephants.

An elephant wanders along the road, accompanied by his little friends - buffalo herons. These birds often accompany elephants in the hope of profiting from insects scared away by the giant.

The main enemy of elephants remains man. People hunt elephants mainly for their tusks, a source of precious ivory. But the meat, skin, and bones of elephants are also used on the farm. For example, roast trunk is considered a delicacy. Due to barbaric hunting, African elephants were on the verge of extinction in many places. Numerous reserves were created to protect them, but even after that the situation of the elephants did not improve. The multiplying elephants, limited to the territory of the reserve, began to suffer from a lack of food and had to be hunted down again. In some cases, relocating elephants from places where there are many of them to areas where there are none helps. But elephant conservation is hampered by smugglers and political conflicts in African countries. Indian elephants are not hunted for their tusks, but their situation is even worse. Since Indian elephants live in the most densely populated region of the world, they are simply deprived of their natural habitats by people. Wild elephants are caught for the purpose of domestication, but in captivity these animals hardly reproduce. This is how the last individuals are removed from nature. Tame elephants are one of the most ancient domesticated animals. From time immemorial, they were used as draft power for plowing land, transporting people and goods, and for military purposes. Elephants can be trained to pick up and put down objects, attack on command, and simply perform various tricks. Unfortunately, the abilities of circus animals develop cruel methods. Domestic elephants are good-natured by nature and often suffer abuse from careless owners, but an elephant’s excellent memory can serve a person poorly. Remembering the grievances inflicted, elephants are prone to frustration (painful experiences and heightened emotions). Prolonged stress can lead to a nervous breakdown and then the elephant goes berserk. In this case, the animal completely goes out of control and attacks all living creatures within reach. In this case, only a bullet can stop the elephant. There are many cases of death of domestic elephants and people for this reason.

on exemplary mutual assistance elephants.

There are up to half a million African elephants in the world; Asian elephants are about 10 times smaller. As you know, elephants are large and very intelligent animals, which have served humans for peaceful and military purposes since ancient times.

Giants

Elephants are the most gigantic land animals on Earth. Their average weight reaches five tons, and their body length is 6-7 meters. In 1956, an elephant weighing 11 tons was killed in Angola.

A female elephant carries a baby for 22 months, the newborn weighs 120 kilograms.

The brain of an elephant weighs 5 kilograms, the heart - 20-30 kilograms. It beats at a frequency of 30 beats per minute.

To feed such a “colossus”, an elephant has to look for food and eat most of the day, at least 20 hours. An elephant eats from 45 to 450 kilograms per day plant food, drinks from 100 to 300 liters of water.

Elephants live 50-70 years. But there are also reporters. War elephant (served in the Chinese army) Lin Wang from Taiwan died in 2003 at the age of 86.

Smarties

Aristotle wrote: “The elephant is an animal that surpasses all others in wit and intelligence.” Elephants really have a lot good memory and developed intelligence. Elephants also turned out to be capable of learning human language.

An elephant named Kaushik, living in Asia, has learned to imitate human speech, or rather, five words: annyong (hello), anja (sit), aniya (no), nuo (lie down) and choah (good).

Kaushik not only mindlessly repeats them, but, according to observers, understands their meaning, since these are either commands that he carries out, or words of encouragement and disapproval.

Communication

Elephants usually communicate using infrasound, so for a long time the elephant's tongue remained unsolved. Research by Christian Herbst of the University of Vienna on the larynx of a dead elephant showed that elephants use their vocal cords to communicate.

The “vocabulary” of the elephant language turned out to be quite rich - Herbst recorded about 470 different stable signals that elephants use.

They can use them to communicate with each other over long distances, warn of danger, report births, and use various addresses to members of the herd, depending on their position in the hierarchy.

Trunk

An elephant's trunk is actually an extension of its upper lip. With the help of their trunk, elephants make tactile contact, say hello, can take objects, draw, drink and wash themselves. The trunk of the trunk can simultaneously hold up to eight liters of water. The trunk also has more than 40,000 receptors. Elephants have a very good sense of smell.

Tusks

Elephants, like people, can be left-handed or right-handed. Depending on which tusk the elephant works more, one of them becomes smaller.

Over the past century and a half average length Elephant tusk production in both Africa and India has halved.

This is due to the fact that the largest representatives of the population become victims of poachers, and the length of the tusks is a genetically inherited trait.

The tusks of deceased elephants are extremely rare to find. Because of this, for a long time there was an opinion that elephants go to die on mysterious elephant cemeteries. Only in the last century it was discovered that porcupines eat tusks, thus compensating for mineral hunger.

Taming the Elephants

Elephants, although intelligent animals, can also be dangerous. Male elephants periodically go through a state of so-called “must.” At this time, the level of testosterone in the blood of animals is 60 times higher than normal.

In order to achieve balance and obedience in elephants, they begin to be trained from early childhood.

One of the most effective methods like this: a baby elephant’s leg is tied to a tree trunk. Gradually he gets used to the fact that it is impossible to free himself from this state. When the animal grows up, it is enough to tie it to a young tree, and the elephant will not try to free itself.

Funeral rite

Elephants not only high level intelligence, but also sensitive hearts. When someone from an elephant family dies, his relatives lift him up with their trunks, loudly turbulate him, and then roll him to a depression and cover him with branches and throw earth at him. Then the elephants sit silently next to the body for several more days.

There are also cases where elephants also try to bury people, sometimes mistaking sleeping people for dead.