African Bush Elephants
The African Bush Elephant is the largest of all living creatures on land today, with some individuals growing to weigh more than 544.3108 kg.The Elephant is thought to have been named after the Greek word for ivory, meaning that Elephants were named for their uniquely long tusks.
Appearance:
The African Bush elephant is the largest land mammal on earth.Male African bush elephants can reach up to 3.5 metres in height and the females being slightly smaller around 3 metres tall.The African bush elephants are larger than their cousins, the Asian elephants. African bush elephants can be identified by their large ears that look some what like the continent of Africa.They can grow up to between 6 and 7 metres long.The tusks of an African bush elephant can grow up to 2.5 metres in length and generally weigh 22.68-45.36 kg ,which is about a small adult human.The Elephants are thought to have been named after the Greek word for ivory,meaning that the Elephants were named for their uniquely long tusks.An elephant's trunk is actually a long nose used for smelling, breathing, trumpeting, drinking, and also for grabbing things especially a potential meal. The trunk alone contains about 100,000 different muscles.The foot of an elephant has five toes that are buried in the flesh of their feet, with not all the toes of an elephant having toenails.The foot of an elephant is formed in such a way that when elephants walk, they are effectively walking on tip toe.The underneath of elephants feet is made up of tough and fatty tissue that acts a shock absorb so that elephants can walk more quietly.
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This is a picture of how Female elephants travel around with their calves.
Habitat:
Today the African bush elephant is mainly found in Central and Southern Africa in nomadic herds that wander the plains and grasslands of Africa nibbling for food and searching for waterholes.Unlike the slightly smaller African forest elephant, the African bush elephant inhabits the grassy savanna plains and shrub land of the African continent.They travel in groups that contain mothers and calves.Habitually African bush Elephant herds contains around 10 individuals but it is not uncommon for family groups to join together making a clan which can be over 1,000 Elephants.They are able to survive in a variety of different locations because of the huge variety of food sources that they consume. Many climate change projections indicate that key portions of elephants habitats will become significantly hotter and drier resulting in poorer foraging conditions and threatening calf survival.
This is the map of Africa the dark green shows were the African bush Elephants are mostly found.
Movement:
African bush elephants radiate heat to help keep these large animals cool but sometimes the African heat is too much for them to handle.Elephants move around in herds through different forests and the Savannah plains.They are found in 37 countries south of the Sahara desert. It can walk up to 500 km per day. It can also run for short distances as fast as 40 kph and it's an excellent swimmer.Like all mammals (except humans and apes, who have to learn how to swim), elephants are very good, untiring swimmers. Elephants move all four legs to swim and are able to move quite fast like that. Their big body provides enough flotation while the trunk acts like a snorkel.
Elephants travel in herds and this is how they look like when travelling from different places.
Food:
Despite it's immense size, the African bush elephant is a herbivorous mammal meaning that it survives on a diet that only consists of plants and plant matter.The bulk of the African bush elephants diet is comprised of leaves and branches that are stripped off the trees and bushes using it's trunk.Food is fed into its mouth using it's trunk and the large flat teeth of the African bush elephant.Their teeth are the perfect tool for grinding the vegetation and coarse plants down so that they can be more easily digested.Adult Elephants eat up to 136 kilograms of food per day.
Behaviour:
Not only is the African bush elephant an incredibly sociable mammal but it is also very active. African bush elephants are nomadic animals meaning that they are constantly on the move in search for food, moving within family herds allowing them to have greater protection both from predators and deadly elements. Its trunk is one of the African bush Elephants most distinguishing features and it extra long nose is not only flexible enough to gather and handle food but can also collect water.They are considered to be highly intelligent and emotional animals displaying behaviors that include giving and receiving love,caring deeply for the young and grieving dead relatives.Their ears are used in conjunction with the soles of their feet and their trunk, in the ability to hear sounds over long distances. On average an Elephant can hear another Elephant call at 4 km away.Under ideal conditions their range of hearing can be increased to km.
This is the first step of mating and reproduction.
Life cycle:
African bush elephants tend to live relatively long lives,with the average life span being between 60 and 70 years.Female African bush elephants reach sexual maturity after 10 or 11 years, but are thought to be fertile between the age of 25 and 45. Male African bush elephants however don't reach sexual maturity until they are nearly 20 years old. After mating and gestation period of up to 2 years, the females give birth to a calf(twins have been known but are extremely rare).Having a baby elephant is a serious commitment. Elephants have a longer pregnancy than any other mammals,almost 22 months. Cows(female Elephants) usually give birth to one calf every two to four years. At birth, elephants already weigh some 91 kilograms and stand about 1 meter tall.Male baby elephants also stay similarly close to their mothers when they are young. But in their case, this bond is not for a lifetime. When an adolescent male reaches puberty – around the age of 12 – he gets too rowdy for the others to tolerate. He repeatedly feels an uncontrollable urge to wrestle and fight with other elephants. Whenever this happens, his mother and grandmother clearly become irritated with him and escort him to the edge of the group to get him to stop.
Conclusion:
African Bush Elephants are family oriented animals because they care for their calves and relatives. Scientist think that they are one of the animals that show emotion like grieving for dead relatives and giving and receiving love.Throughout this information report I have learnt so much more about elephants than I did starting this.
Bibliography:
http://a-z-animals.com/animals/african-bush-elephant/
http://www.defenders.org/elephant/basic-facts
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/
