Close-up of elephant trunk and tusk, Kruger National Park, South Africa.
African elephant (Loxodonta africana) Shoulder height: males up to about 4m, females about 3m; mass: males 5500 - 6000 kg, females 3500 - 4000kg. Generally occurs in savanna woodland, but can adapt to living in arid areas. The trunk is can perform most of the operations carried out by the hands in man. With it it plucks its food and conveys it to the mouth, sucks up drinking water, which is pumped into the mouth or over the body as a spray to cool itself, and with the aid of its double-pointed tip it can manipulate even tiny objects. The ears when flapped act as convectors, cooling the blood. They express the mood of the individual and when it is enraged they are held outward as it charges. The sides of the face are often marked by dark secretions from the temporal gland. The tusks, wich are larger in the bulls than the cows, are ever-growing incisor teeth composed entirely of dentine (ivory). The tusks are used for digging and, in conjunction with the trunk, for breaking down branches for food and in fighting. The soles of the feet are cushioned and act as shock absorbers, wich allows it to move noiselessly. Elephants live in family groups consisting of females and their young, often joining up to form large herds. The bulls join these family groups when the females are in oestrus, otherwise living alone or in male herds. The social organisation is matriarchal. They both browse and graze, using a wide range of food plants. They are destuctive feeders, pushing over trees to get at the young fresh foliage and will strip the bark and uproot them to get at the roots. A single young with a mass of about 120 kg may be born at any time of the year. The female have a pair of mammae between their front legs and the young suckle with their mouths. The mother cares for her offspring for about two years. Bulls do not compete with older bulls for females until about 20 years of age. Females have their first calf at about 11 years of age after a gestation period of 22 months.
Size: 5300px × 3533px
Photo credit: © Emile Wessels / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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