AFRICAN ELEPHANT
Characteristics
The elephants that live in Africa have the great majority a weight that oscillates between the 5 or 6 tons of weight in the males and about 4 or 5 in the females. They are animals that despite their large dimensions can run perfectly, causing many problems when it is the entire herd that is set in motion, arriving to see stampedes of more than 12 or 20 copies.
They are usually quiet and very peaceful animals, although it must be said that they lose this tranquility when their territory is threatened or they encounter a possible danger. With humans, African elephants behave at first like any other animal, but they can pose a very great threat, since several elephant attacks are recorded each year to people.
They have a body without fur, with a hard and gray skin that helps them to better withstand the high temperatures of the African savannah. The back of these animals is straight, except for a small curvature in the shoulder area. In this species both the female and the male have fangs, which begin to grow very early, and which grow throughout their lives. The life expectancy of African elephants can reach 80 or 90 years, but in many cases it is drastically reduced because of poaching, which kill them in order to get the ivory from their tusks.
Scientific name: Loxodonta africana
Size: 3.3 meters
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscedea
Weight: 6 tons
Longevity: 70 years
Food: Herbivorous
Reproduction: Viviparous
Distribution: Africa
Pregnancy period: 22 months
Habitat
There are two types of African elephants today, which have somewhat different characteristics, since they live in places other than Africa. On the one hand, we will find the most common elephant and the one that is bigger than the one that lives in the savannah, these animals have become accustomed to living in areas where the temperature of the environment is very high, while the African elephant of jungle, although it is also adapted for this climatology, prefers the places something more cold and humid.
Both live in herds with a number that usually does not exceed 20 specimens, being in these groups the older females who will control the group, having a matriarchal hierarchy. Male elephants will live to a certain age in these groups, but it is more common to find them alone or in other groups of males, joining only the group of females to procreate, as long as the female leader leaves them.
Alimentation
These elephants will always look for places near the water, such as lakes, rivers or large ponds, since in addition to having a rich diet in all kinds of vegetables, they also need to drink several liters of water a day. A daily diet of these African elephants consists mainly of branches, fruits, leaves, herbs and other foods until they digest a quantity of at least 130 kilos per day.
With the help of their trunks they will feel the foods that are better and the richest, although they are also able to smell where the greenest shoots are.
Reproduction
The females of African elephants have sexual maturation at around 10 years old, at which time they may already have offspring. In general, they will always have a single calf at each birth, although there have been cases, but very rarely two. The time in which the elephant baby will be born will be about 22 months and weigh about 90 kilos at the time of delivery.
When the baby is born, all the elephants of that group gather in front of it to be able to give it a better protection in its first minutes of life, moment in which the mother begins to give love to the baby, cleaning it and helping it to get standing.
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