how do elephants look

[6] The trunk is elongated and specialised to become the elephant's most important and versatile appendage. [73] The elephant's penis can reach a length of 100 cm (39 in) and a diameter of 16 cm (6 in) at the base. What can you do? Bulls only return to the herd to breed or to socialize, they do not provide prenatal care to their offspring but rather play a fatherly role to younger bulls to show dominance. Elephants tend to stay near water sources. [12] Major feeding bouts take place in the morning, afternoon and night. [126] These calls occur at frequencies less than 20 Hz. [194] Ganesha is associated with writers and merchants and it is believed that he can give people success as well as grant them their desires. This can be characterized by its unique glottal opening/closing pattern. As of 2008, local numbers were controlled by contraception or translocation. Young bulls appear to enter musth during the dry season (January–May), while older bulls go through it during the wet season (June–December). Ptolemy, who was one of Alexander's generals, used corps of Asian elephants during his reign as the ruler of Egypt (which began in 323 BC). As elephants mature, their hair darkens and becomes sparser, but dense concentrations of hair and bristles remain on the end of the tail as well as the chin, genitals and the areas around the eyes and ear openings. They appear to have self-awareness, and appear to show empathy for dying and dead family members. [148] Around the same time, Kenya destroyed all its ivory stocks. Likewise in Hinduism, they are linked with thunderstorms as Airavata, the father of all elephants, represents both lightning and rainbows. [96], Male elephants can be quite sociable when not competing for dominance or mates, and will form long-term relationships. The cerebrum and cerebellum are well developed, and the temporal lobes are so large that they bulge out laterally. Vocal production mechanisms at certain frequencies are similar to that of humans and other mammals and the laryngeal tissues are subjected to self-maintained oscillations. Elephants are popularly thought of as having an excellent memory. Local people have reported their belief that some elephants were drunk during their attacks, although officials have disputed this explanation. The third sign that your plant has been overwatered is edema. Musth rumbles may be answered by the "female chorus", a low-frequency, modulated chorus produced by several cows. An Asian elephant has been observed modifying branches and using them as flyswatters. Some proboscideans developed tusks from their lower incisors. The word "elephant" is based on the Latin elephas (genitive elephantis) ("elephant"), which is the Latinised form of the Greek ἐλέφας (elephas) (genitive ἐλέφαντος (elephantos[1]), probably from a non-Indo-European language, likely Phoenician. [121], Visual displays mostly occur in agonistic situations. After bathing, the elephant will usually use its trunk to blow dust onto its body and this dries into a protective crust. This may allow the animal to deal with the pressure differences when its body is underwater and its trunk is breaking the surface for air,[32] although this explanation has been questioned. [81] Elephants can have a negative impact on ecosystems. Tusks serve multiple purposes. The muscles of the trunk connect to a bony opening in the skull. [11], Among African elephants, forest elephants have smaller and more rounded ears and thinner and straighter tusks than bush elephants and are limited in range to the forested areas of western and Central Africa. The two leaning on each other, rubbing each other, spinning around, even defecating, and urinating (for this is what elephants do when they are experiencing sheer delight). [25], The skeleton of the elephant is made up of 326–351 bones. They are the largest land mammals on Earth. [24] Mammuthus evolved into several species, including the well-known woolly mammoth. African elephants are heavier than Asian elephants: an African elephant weighs between 4.4 and 7.7 tonnes, while an Asian elephant weighs between 3.3 and 6.6 tonnes. Tusks, which are derived from the incisor teeth, serve both as weapons and as tools for moving objects and digging. The long bones of the limbs have cancellous bone in place of medullary cavities. A greeting rumble is emitted by members of a family group after having been separated for several hours. They were not used as much as horse-drawn chariots by either the Pandavas or Kauravas. Asiatic elephant › Taking a dust-bath. But they don't look the same. These elephants likely grew smaller on islands due to a lack of large or viable predator populations and limited resources. Pink Elephants on Parade Lyrics: Look out! Individuals of any age and sex will touch each other's mouths, temporal glands, and genitals, particularly during meetings or when excited. [27], Proboscideans experienced several evolutionary trends, such as an increase in size, which led to many giant species that stood up to 500 cm (16 ft 5 in) tall. POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT TRAINING. ", International Union for Conservation of Nature, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, traditionally captured with traps and lassos, The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960, List of elephants in mythology and religion, "Ivory and horn production in Mycenaean texts", "Afrotherian mammals: a review of current data", "A comprehensive genomic history of extinct and living elephants", "Chromosome painting in the manatee supports Afrotheria and Paenungulata", "Genomic DNA Sequences from Mastodon and Woolly Mammoth Reveal Deep Speciation of Forest and Savanna Elephants", "Reconciling apparent conflicts between mitochondrial and nuclear phylogenies in African elephants", "Palaeogenomes of Eurasian straight-tusked elephants challenge the current view of elephant evolution", "Paleocene emergence of elephant relatives and the rapid radiation of African ungulates", "A proboscidean from the late Oligocene of Eritrea, a "missing link" between early Elephantiformes and Elephantimorpha, and biogeographic implications", "Shoulder height, body mass and shape of proboscideans", "The dental factor in elephant evolution", "Humanity's Grassroots: How Grazing Animals Shaped Evolution", "Elephant Anatomy and Biology: Skeletal system", "Elephant Anatomy and Biology: Special sense organs", "Elephants and human color-blind deuteranopes have identical sets of visual pigments", "Elephant cognition in primate perspective", "Elephants Evolve Smaller Tusks Due to Poaching", "Tuskless elephants evolving thanks to poachers", "Why elephants are not so long in the tusk", "Illegal tusk harvest and the decline of tusk size in the African elephant", "The structure of the cushions in the feet of African elephants (, "The locomotor kinematics of Asian and African elephants: changes with speed and size", "Complex Vibratory Patterns in an Elephant Larynx", "Male reproductive organs of the African elephant, Loxodonta africana", "Mega-gardeners of the forest – the role of elephants in seed dispersal", "Tiger kills elephant at Eravikulam park", "Wild Asian elephants distinguish aggressive tiger and leopard growls according to perceived danger", "Leadership in elephants: the adaptive value of age", Chemical signals in the reproduction of Asian (Elephas maximus) and African (Loxodonta africana) elephants, "Elephant Reproduction Project: The Estrous Cycle of Elephants", "Mate guarding, reproductive success and female choice in African elephants", "Gestating for 22 months: luteal development and pregnancy maintenance in elephants", "Rare elephant twins born in northern Kwa-Zulu Natal", "The influence of surface atmospheric conditions on the range and area reached by animal vocalizations", "African elephants show high levels of interest in the skulls and ivory of their own species", "Behavioural reactions of elephants towards a dying and deceased matriarch", "What really prompts the dog's 'Guilty Look, "Anthropomorphic Double-Talk: Can Animals Be Happy But Not Unhappy? [130] When detecting the seismics of an alarm call signalling danger from predators, elephants enter a defensive posture and family groups will pack together. Bulls in musth emit a distinctive, low-frequency pulsated rumble nicknamed the "motorcycle". [106] Thus these bulls have more reproductive success. [3][4] As in Mycenaean Greek, Homer used the Greek word to mean ivory, but after the time of Herodotus, it also referred to the animal. [44] As a muscular hydrostat, the trunk moves by precisely coordinated muscle contractions. With no "aerial phase", the fast gait does not meet all the criteria of running, although the elephant uses its legs much like other running animals, with the hips and shoulders falling and then rising while the feet are on the ground. A "let's go" soft rumble is emitted by the matriarch to signal to the other herd members that it is time to move to another spot. Elephants are used as working animals in Asia. Male Asian elephants are usually about 261–289 cm (8 ft 7 in–9 ft 6 in) tall at the shoulder and 3.5–4.6 t (3.9–5.1 short tons) whereas females are 228–252 cm (7 ft 6 in–8 ft … An individual running or mock charging can create seismic signals that can be heard at great distances. [61][77] Elephants average 3–4 hours of sleep per day. Suckling after two years may serve to maintain growth rate, body condition and reproductive ability. [68], The African bush elephant can be found in habitats as diverse as dry savannahs, deserts, marshes, and lake shores, and in elevations from sea level to mountain areas above the snow line. [92], Bulls engage in a behaviour known as mate-guarding, where they follow oestrous females and defend them from other males. [12] They are born with sterile intestines and require bacteria obtained from their mother's feces to digest vegetation. In the past, they were used in war; today, they are often controversially put on display in zoos, or exploited for entertainment in circuses. In circuses, they are trained to perform tricks. Their closest extant relatives are the sirenians (dugongs and manatees) and the hyraxes, with which they share the clade Paenungulata within the superorder Afrotheria. [170], The use of elephants in circuses has also been controversial; the Humane Society of the United States has accused circuses of mistreating and distressing their animals. [192] The animals' religious importance is only totemic in Africa[193] but is much more significant in Asia. [154] Musth bulls can be difficult and dangerous to work with and are chained and semi-starved until the condition passes. At Amboseli, young males spend over 80% of their time away from their families when they are 14–15. A bull will follow a potential mate and assess her condition with the flehmen response, which requires the male to collect a chemical sample with his trunk and bring it to the vomeronasal organ. Female same-sex behaviours have been documented only in captivity where they are known to masturbate one another with their trunks. [90], Female elephants spend their entire lives in tight-knit matrilineal family groups, some of which are made up of more than ten members, including three mothers and their dependent offspring, and are led by the matriarch which is often the eldest female. Asian elephant eating tree bark, using its tusks to peel it off. [50], Like humans, who are typically right- or left-handed, elephants are usually right- or left-tusked. The IUCN estimates a total of around 440,000 individuals for 2012 while TRAFFIC estimates as many as 55 are poached daily. When moving, elephant mothers will touch their calves with their trunks or feet when side-by-side or with their tails if the calf is behind them. [12] Asian elephants prefer areas with a mix of grasses, low woody plants, and trees, primarily inhabiting dry thorn-scrub forests in southern India and Sri Lanka and evergreen forests in Malaya. A larger body and the trunk ends in 2 "fingers". Like all mammals, an elephant can raise or lower its temperature a few degrees from the average in response to extreme environmental conditions. Both elephants do possess the same tough hide (the Latin name for elephant is “pachyderm,” or “thick-skinned”). When comparing an elephant's vocal folds to those of a human, an elephant's are longer, thicker, and have a larger cross-sectional area. They communicate by touch, sight, smell, and sound; elephants use infrasound, and seismic communication over long distances. Africa, in particular, contains many rock paintings and engravings of the animals, especially in the Sahara and southern Africa. [46] The trunk's ability to make powerful twisting and coiling movements allows it to collect food, wrestle with other elephants,[47] and lift up to 350 kg (770 lb). [187] In Asia, the animals are depicted as motifs in Hindu and Buddhist shrines and temples. is another huge skill to have when working anywhere reputable with elephants. This has been interpreted as expressing "concern";[136] however, others would dispute such an interpretation as being anthropomorphic;[137][138] the Oxford Companion to Animal Behaviour (1987) advised that "one is well advised to study the behaviour rather than attempting to get at any underlying emotion". [67], The brain of an elephant weighs 4.5–5.5 kg (10–12 lb) compared to 1.6 kg (4 lb) for a human brain. Adult bulls mostly interact with family groups when looking for a mate. [126] For African elephants, calls range from 15 to 35 Hz with sound pressure levels as high as 117 dB, allowing communication for many kilometres, with a possible maximum range of around 10 km (6 mi). How Much Do Elephants Eat? They, like elephants, have thick gray skin and can weigh up to a ton. Asiatic elephant › The Asiatic elephant is smaller than its African cousin. African elephants are listed as vulnerable and Asian elephants as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). [41], Elephant ears have thick bases with thin tips. [44] They will also spray dust or grass on themselves. [96], A family of African bush elephants: note the protected position of the calves in the middle of the group, Lone bull: Adult male elephants spend much of their time alone or in single-sex groups, Adult males enter a state of increased testosterone known as musth. In a population in southern India, males first enter musth at the age of 15, but it is not very intense until they are older than 25. By contrast, small mammals such as rodents develop gigantism in these conditions. The African Elephant is taller, has a larger head and ears concealing its neck and shoulders. [7] In the Late Pleistocene, most proboscidean species vanished during the Quaternary glaciation which killed off 50% of genera weighing over 5 kg (11 lb) worldwide. After 1987, losses in elephant numbers accelerated, and savannah populations from Cameroon to Somalia experienced a decline of 80%. African elephants have 21 pairs of ribs, while Asian elephants have 19 or 20 pairs. There may be about 30,000 Asiatic elephants left in the world. Loxodonta branched off earliest around the Miocene and Pliocene boundary while Mammuthus and Elephas diverged later during the early Pliocene. African elephants have rounded heads, while Asian elephants have a twin-domed head, which means there’s a divot line running up the head. The pillar-like legs carry their great weight. Elephants are incapable of rotating their front legs, as the ulna and radius are fixed in pronation; the "palm" of the manus faces backward. Despite this, some Europeans continued to portray them in a more stylised fashion. War elephants were trained to grasp an enemy soldier and toss him to the person riding on them or to pin the soldier to the ground and impale him. [154] They were traditionally captured with traps and lassos, but since 1950, tranquillisers have been used. At Mount Elgon, elephants excavate caves that are used by ungulates, hyraxes, bats, birds and insects. the skin over their toes makes them look like they are walking normally. [51] In earlier times, elephant tusks weighing over 200 pounds (more than 90 kg) were not uncommon, though it is rare today to see any over 100 pounds (45 kg). The Asian elephant also has dorsal bumps on its head and some patches of depigmentation on its skin. [149] CITES approved an international ban on ivory that went into effect in January 1990. Elephants killed around 300 people between 2000 and 2004 in Jharkhand while in Assam, 239 people were reportedly killed between 2001 and 2006. [186], Elephants have been represented in art since Paleolithic times. At the beginning of the Middle Ages, when Europeans had little to no access to the animals, elephants were portrayed more like fantasy creatures. [184] The expression "elephant in the room" refers to an obvious truth that is ignored or otherwise unaddressed. elephants do walk on their tippy toes. For the first few days, the mother is intolerant of other herd members near her young. Even these elephants' scientific names seem designed to befuddle kids: what we know informally as the North American Mastodon goes by the genus name Mammut, while the genus name for the Woolly Mammoth is the confusingly similar Mammuthus (both names partake of the same Greek root, meaning "earth burrower"). Individuals greet each other by stroking or wrapping their trunks; the latter also occurs during mild competition. The back of the skull is flattened and spread out, creating arches that protect the brain in every direction. [53] Asian males can have tusks as long as Africans', but they are usually slimmer and lighter; the largest recorded was 302 cm (9 ft 11 in) long and weighed 39 kg (86 lb). The vocal folds are long and are attached close to the epiglottis base. Exercise – They might not do yoga, but our elephants get plenty of exercise. After a year, a calf's abilities to groom, drink, and feed itself are fully developed. The former are divided into dorsals, ventrals, and laterals while the latter are divided into transverse and radiating muscles. When males permanently leave, they either live alone or with other males. These animals were relatively small and aquatic. There are many similarities between Asian and African elephants, but there are simple ways to distinguish one from the other. [66] During locomotion, the cushion pads expand and contract, and reduce both the pain and noise that would come from a very heavy animal moving. Proponents of zoos argue that they offer researchers easy access to the animals and provide money and expertise for preserving their natural habitats, as well as safekeeping for the species. At the same time, improvements in lip and leg coordination occur. Elephants can weigh as much as a school bus! Appendix II status (which allows restricted trade) was given to elephants in Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe in 1997 and South Africa in 2000. Instead, new teeth grow in at the back of the mouth and move forward to push out the old ones. The Romans in particular pitted them against humans and other animals in gladiator events. The taming of African elephants in the Belgian Congo began by decree of Leopold II of Belgium during the 19th century and continues to the present with the Api Elephant Domestication Centre. [32] Elephants inhale mostly through the trunk, although some air goes through the mouth. Members of this group included Gomphotherium and Platybelodon. Elephant calves are cared for by their aunts, sisters and mother, with the mother responsible for providing breast milk while the aunts and sisters guarding and babysitting the babies. Asian males are usually solitary, but occasionally form groups of two or more individuals; the largest consisted of seven bulls. By contrast, Japan and Hong Kong, which were also part of the industry, were able to adapt and were not badly affected. [185] The story of the blind men and an elephant teaches that reality can be observed from different perspectives. [149], The ban allowed the elephant to recover in parts of Africa. [164] The Persians used them during the Achaemenid Empire (between the 6th and 4th centuries BC)[162] while Southeast Asian states first used war elephants possibly as early as the 5th century BC and continued to the 20th century. The former are sexually mature by the age of nine years[108] while the latter become mature around 14–15 years. [95], The social circle of the female elephant does not necessarily end with the small family unit. Its population is rapidly declining. [50] Tuskless males exist and are particularly common among Sri Lankan elephants. [110] Prior to mounting, it curves forward and upward. Male elephants sometimes stimulate each other by playfighting and "championships" may form between old bulls and younger males. Males (bulls) leave their family groups when they reach puberty, and may live alone or with other males. The elephant is the largest animal that lives on land. [84] The size of adult elephants makes them nearly invulnerable to predators,[75] though there are rare reports of adult elephants falling prey to tigers. Their habit of uprooting trees and undergrowth can transform savannah into grasslands; when they dig for water during drought, they create waterholes that can be used by other animals. After CITES listed the Asian elephant under Appendix I in 1975, the number of African elephants in zoos increased in the 1980s, although the import of Asians continued. Indian campaign, Alexander the Great confronted elephants for the first time, and suffered heavy casualties. [91], Some elephant populations in India and Sri Lanka have similar basic social organisations. [80], Because of their large size, elephants have a huge impact on their environments and are considered keystone species. We hope to inspire our readers to take actions to help Elephants, such as: Do not buy ivory or other wildlife-related products. From Grammarly to Hemingway, These Are the Best Free Grammar Check Software Options, The History Behind Harriet Tubman's Journey to the $20 Bill. [161], Historically, elephants were considered formidable instruments of war. [83] Because most of the food elephants eat goes undigested, their dung can provide food for other animals, such as dung beetles and monkeys. As a piece of living tissue, a tusk is relatively soft; it is as hard as the mineral calcite. The number of premolars, incisors and canines decreased. Elephants have a fission–fusion society, in which multiple family groups come together to socialise. They have a hindgut fermentation system, and their large and small intestines together reach 35 m (115 ft) in length. [22] The African Primelephas gomphotheroides gave rise to Loxodonta, Mammuthus, and Elephas. They were often depicted with horse- or bovine-like bodies with trumpet-like trunks and tusks like a boar; some were even given hooves. A durable nictitating membrane protects the eye globe. [2] It is attested in Mycenaean Greek as e-re-pa (genitive e-re-pa-to) in Linear B syllabic script. They are typically surrogates for humans with ideal human values. Elephants have difficulty releasing heat through the skin because of their low surface-area-to-volume ratio, which is many times smaller than that of a human. Elephant intelligence has been compared with that of primates and cetaceans. The looped ridges on the molars are narrower in the Asian elephant while those of the African are more diamond-shaped. In the year 2000, around 1,200 Asian and 700 African elephants were kept in zoos and circuses. Dwarf elephants of uncertain descent lived in Crete, Cyclades, and Dodecanese while dwarf mammoths are known to have lived in Sardinia. During in vivo situations, these phenomena could be triggered when the vocal folds and vocal tract interact to raise or lower the fundamental frequency. [156] They are valued over mechanised tools because they can work in relatively deep water, require relatively little maintenance, need only vegetation and water as fuel and can be trained to memorise specific tasks. By comparison, human sperm has to swim around only 76.2 mm (3.00 in). [131], Elephants exhibit mirror self-recognition, an indication of self-awareness and cognition that has also been demonstrated in some apes and dolphins. Because elephant calves are born only one every five years, this practice allows the young female elephants, known as "allomothers," to learn how to care for their own young in the future. Elephants can be trained to respond to over 30 commands. They are slightly larger than their Asian cousins and can be identified by their larger ears that look somewhat like the continent of Africa. The event was conducted to raise awareness of the value of elephants and rhinos, to help mitigate human-elephant conflicts, and to promote anti-poaching activities. Sea elephants, as these seals are sometimes called, give birth in late winter to a single pup and nurse it for approximately a month. [34] This classification has been re-evaluated and since the Second International Mammoth Conference in 1999, these animals are no longer considered to be true "dwarf mammoths". Spring-like kinetics could explain the difference between the motion of elephants and other animals. [86] One study found that younger matriarchs are more likely than older ones to under-react to severe danger.

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