African bush elephant: Difference between revisions

| image = African Bush Elephant.jpg

| image_caption = A female African bush elephant, ''Loxodonta africana'', in Mikumi National Park, Tanzania

| range_map_caption=Distribution of ''Loxodonta'' (2007)

The '''African bush elephant''' (''Loxodonta africana'') is the larger of the two [[species]] of [[African elephant]].

 

Both it and the [[African forest elephant]] have in the past been classified as a single species, known simply as the '''African elephant''', but recent preliminary evidence has seen the forest elephant classified as a distinct species (although this status is not conclusively accepted due to concerns over conservation strategies until the reclassification is formalised).<ref name=IUCN/>

The African bush elephant is the largest and heaviest land animal on earth, being up to {{convert|3.96|m|ft|1|abbr=on}} tall at the shoulder and {{convert|10.4|tonnes|lb|-1}} in weight (a male shot in 1974).<ref name = "Wood">{{cite book | author = Wood, Gerald |url = | title =The Guinness Book of Animal Facts and Feats| year = 1983 | isbn = 978-0-85112-235-9}}</ref><ref name=probos_mass>{{Cite journal | last1 = Larramendi | first1 = A. | last2 = | first2 =  | year = 2016 | title = Shoulder height, body mass and shape of proboscideans | journal = Acta Palaeontologica Polonica | volume = 61 | issue =  | pages =  | publisher =  | jstor =  | doi = 10.4202/app.00136.2014 | url = https://www.app.pan.pl/archive/published/app61/app001362014.pdf | accessdate = }}</ref> On average, males are {{convert|3.2|m|ft|1}} tall at the shoulder and {{convert|6|tonnes|lb|-1}} in weight, while females are much smaller at {{convert|2.6|m|ft|1}} tall at the shoulder and {{convert|3|tonnes|lb|-1}} in weight.<ref name=probos_mass/><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Laws | first1 = R.M. | last2 = Parker | first2 = I.S.C. | year = 1968 | title = Recent studies on elephant populations in East Africa | url = | journal = Symposia of the Zoological Society of London | volume = 21 | issue = | pages = 319–359 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Hanks | first1 = J | year = 1972 | title = Growth of the African elephant (Loxodonta africana) | doi = 10.1111/j.1365-2028.1972.tb00870.x | journal = East African Wildlife Journal | volume = 10 | issue = | pages = 251–272 }}</ref><ref>Laws, R.M., Parker, I.S.C., and Johnstone, R.C.B. (1975). ''Elephants and Their Habitats: The Ecology of Elephants in North Bunyoro, Uganda''. Clarendon Press, Oxford.</ref> The most characteristic features of African elephants are their very large ears, which they use to radiate excess heat,<ref name="WWF African elephant">{{cite web|title=African elephant physical description| url=http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/finder/africanelephants/ecology.html|publisher=WWF|accessdate=28 June 2012}}</ref> and their trunk, a nose and an extension of the upper lip with two opposing extensions, or "fingers" at the end of it (in contrast to the Asian elephant, which only has one). The trunk is used for communication and handling objects and food. African elephants also have bigger [[tusk]]s, large modified [[incisor]]s that grow throughout an elephant's life. They occur in both males and females and are used in fights and for marking, feeding, and digging.<ref name="WWF African elephant" />

[[File:Serengeti Elefantenbulle.jpg|thumb|left|240px|Male African bush elephant in [[Serengeti National Park|Serengeti]], [[Tanzania]].]]

[[File:Kruger Elephant.JPG|thumb|left|240px|Elephant At [[Kruger National Park]] South Africa.]]

A 2010 genetic study confirmed the African bush elephant and the [[African forest elephant]] are distinct species.<ref>{{cite news | last1=Rohland | first1=Nadin | last2=Reich | first2=David | last3=Mallick | first3=Swapan | last4=Meyer | first4=Matthias | last5=Green | first5=Richard E. | last6=Georgiadis | first6=Nicholas J. | last7=Roca | first7=Alfred L. | last8=Hofreiter | first8=Michael | publication-date=December 2010 | title=Genomic DNA Sequences from Mastodon and Woolly Mammoth Reveal Deep Speciation of Forest and Savanna Elephants | periodical=PLoS Biology | volume=8 | issue=12 | page=e1000564 | url=http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1000564 | doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.1000564 | year=2010 | editor1-last=Penny | editor1-first=David | postscript=.}}</ref> By [[DNA sequencing|sequencing DNA]] of 375 [[nuclear gene]]s, scientists determined the two species diverged around the same time as the [[Asian elephant]] and the [[woolly mammoth]], and are as distinct from one another as those two species are from each other.<ref>{{cite news | last=Steenhuysen | first=Julie | publication-date=22 December 2010 | title=Africa has two species of elephants, not one | periodical=Reuters | url=http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BK6I920101222 | postscript=.}}</ref> {{As of|2010|December}}, conservation organizations, such as the [[United Nations Environment Programme]]'s [[World Conservation Monitoring Centre]] and the [[International Union for Conservation of Nature]] (IUCN), had not distinguished between the two species of African elephants for purposes of assessing their conservation status. {{As of|2010|March}}, the [[IUCN Red List]] classified African elephants as a whole as [[vulnerable species]] and the Central African elephant population (forest elephants) as Endangered.<ref name=IUCN />

[[File:Loxodonta africana (crossing the Zambezi).jpg|thumb|A specimen seen crossing the Zambezi.]]