Elephants: Proboscidea - Physical Characteristics, Habitat, Diet, Behavior And Reproduction, Elephants And People, Asian Elephant (elephas Maximus): Species Accounts - GEOGRAPHIC RANGE, CONSERVATION STATUS

Elephants: Proboscidea - Physical Characteristics

Elephants weigh 200 to 265 pounds (90 to 120 kilograms) when they are born. Even after they reach adulthood, elephants continue to grow. Females stop growing between twenty-five and thirty years and males between thirty-five and forty-five years. Adult females weigh anywhere from 3.3 to 7.7 tons (3 to 7 metric tons), depending on the species of elephant. When compared to the size of its body, an e…

Elephants: Proboscidea - Habitat

Elephants: Proboscidea - Diet

Elephants are herbivores, plant eaters, who eat a wide range of various plant types, including grasses, trees, vines, and shrubs. They consume between one hundred and five hundred species of plants, and eat everything edible on each plant, including twigs, bark, flowers, roots, bulbs, leaves, and shoots. Tree bark is favored because it provides essential minerals and other nutrients. What elephant…

Elephants: Proboscidea - Behavior And Reproduction

The female elephant, or cow, is sexually mature between the ages of twelve and fourteen and begins to reproduce shortly after that. Cows typically give birth to one calf at a time every four or five years. One of every one hundred births results in a twin delivery. The gestation period, length of pregnancy, for an elephant cow is twenty-two months. This ensures that the calf will be born during th…

Elephants: Proboscidea - Elephants And People

Elephants: Proboscidea - Asian Elephant (elephas Maximus): Species Accounts

Physical characteristics: Asian elephants weigh 3.3 to 5.5 tons (3 to 5 metric tons) with shoulder heights of 6.6 to 9.8 feet (2 to 3 meters). They have heads that are large compared to their bodies with large ears—but smaller ears than the African elephant—that fold forward at top. Their trunks have one finger at tip. Asian elephants have gray skin that fades to pink spotting on ear…

Elephants: Proboscidea - Savanna Elephant (loxodonta Africana): Species Accounts

Physical characteristics: The savanna elephant, the better-known of the two African elephants, weighs anywhere from 4.4 to 7.7 tons (4 to 7 metric tons), with a shoulder height of 8.2 to 13 feet (2.5 to 4 meters). The savanna elephant's head is not as high as the Asian species and has just a single dome; their ears are larger and fold back at the top. The trunk has two fingers on its end. B…

Elephants: Proboscidea - Forest Elephant (loxodonta Cyclotis): Species Accounts

Physical characteristics: Forest elephants weigh 2.2 to 4.4 tons (2 to 4 metric tons), with a shoulder height of 6 to 9.8 feet (1.8 to 3 meters). Compared to the savanna elephant, it is smaller physically. Their heads are not as high as the Asian species, nor as large as the savanna elephant, and it has just a single dome. Forest elephant ears are rounded and fold back at the top. The trunk has tw…