Elephants

Elephants are large land mammals and three living species of elephant are recognized -
1)African Bush Elephant

2)African Forest Elephant and

3)Indian or Asian Elephant

Elephants are the largest living land animals on Earth today.
Elephant's Gestation Period is 22 Months,the longest of any land animal.
At birth, an elephant calf typically weighs 105 kilograms (230 lb)
Elephant's typically live for 50 to 70 years, but the oldest recorded elephant lived for 82 years.

Population

At the turn of the 20th century, there were a few million African elephants and about 100,000 Asian elephants. Today, there are an estimated 450,000 - 700,000 African elephants and between 35,000 - 40,000 wild Asian elephants.

In 1989, when they were added to the international list of the most endangered species, there were about 600,000 remaining, less than one percent of their original number.

Asian elephants were never as abundant as their African cousins, and today they are even more endangered than African elephants. At the turn of the century, there were an estimated 200,000 Asian elephants. Today there are probably no more than 35,000 to 40,000 left in the wild. 

The desire for elephant ivory has been one of the major factors in the reduction of the world's elephant population.

Skin

Elephants are colloquially called pachyderms which means thick-skinned animals. An elephant's skin is extremely tough around most parts of its body and measures about 2.5 centimetres (1.0 in) thick.

Normally, the skin of an Asian is covered with more hair than its African counterpart.

Legs and feet

An elephant's legs are roughly shaped like columns or pillars, as they must be to support its bulk. The elephant needs less muscular power to stand because of its straight legs and large padded feet. For this reason, an elephant can stand for very long periods of time without tiring. In fact, African elephants rarely lie down unless they are sick or wounded. Indian elephants, in contrast, lie down frequently.

Behavior

Elephants form deep family bonds and live in tight matriarchal family groups of related females called a herd. The herd is led by the oldest and often largest female in the herd, called a matriarch. Herds consist of 8-100 individuals depending on terrain and family size. When a calf is born, it is raised and protected by the whole matriarchal herd. Males leave the family unit between the ages of 12-15 and may lead solitary lives or live temporarily with other males.

African and Asian Elephants - Distinction

At first glance, African and Asian elephants appear the same. An informed eye, however, can distinguish the two species. 

An African bull elephant (adult male) can weigh as much as 14,000 to 16,000 pounds (6300 to 7300 kg) and grow to 13 feet (four meters) at the shoulder.

 Its smaller relative, the Asian elephant, averages 5,000 pounds (2300 kg) and 9 to 10 feet (3 meters) tall.

The African elephant is sway-backed and has a tapering head, while the Asian elephant is hump-backed and has a huge, domed head. Probably the most interesting difference between the two species is their ears. Oddly, the African elephant's large ears match the shape of the African continent, and the Asian elephant's smaller ears match the shape of India. 

Physical characteristics

Eyes

Elephant's eyes are small; because of the position and size of the head and neck they have limited peripheral vision. They have poor eyesight with a range of only 25 ft. This is slightly improved in forest shade. 

Trunk

Trunk, is a fusion of the nose and upper lip,elongated and specialized and an elephant uses its trunk for a multitude of purposes - pluck a flower or pick up a coin or lift huge logs or conveys food and water to the mouth, and can suck up huge volumes of liquid and expel it at great force, it is also used to make sounds such as trumpeting. 

The trunk is also used for drinking. Elephants suck water up into the trunk—up to 14 litres (15 quarts) at a time—and then blow it into their mouths.

Elephants can defend themselves very well by flailing their trunks at unwanted intruders or by grasping and flinging them

 Tusks(also known as Ivory)

Tusks grow continuously; an adult male's tusks grow about 18 cm (7 in) a year.  

Asian elephants commonly have short and light tusks but they can on occasion be long and slender.

As opposed to their African cousins only male Asian elephants have tusks, female may have short protrusions called tushes. These are rarely longer than 4 inches

 Both male and female African elephants have large tusks that can reach over 3 m (10 ft) in length and weigh over 90 kg (200 lb)

In the Asian species, only the males have large tusks. Female Asians have tusks which are very small or absent altogether. Asian males can have tusks as long as the much larger Africans, but they are usually much slimmer and lighter; the heaviest recorded is 39 kg (86 lb).