BIOL630
Appearance
Weighing up to 6.6 tons, and measuring up to 10 feet at the shoulder, the African elephant is the world's largest land mammal. It is characterized by its dexterous trunk, long curved ivory tusks, and massive ears (Cushman, 2020).
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An African elephant's trunk is extremely versatile, using them for trumpeting, smelling, breathing, detecting vibrations, caressing their young, sucking up water, and grasping objects (Cushman, 2020). Due to the excessive African heat, elephants like to use their trunks to bathe and then apply a protective coat of dust. The tip of the trunk consists of two fingerlike features that allows them to grab small items ("African elephant").
Contrary to popular belief, both male and female elephants posses tusks, which are modified incisors. Tusks are present at birth and fall out after about a year with permanent ones replacing them. Like their trunks, elephant tusks also provide a wide range of uses such as digging, foraging, and fighting (Cushman, 2020). They are also used as a resting place for the elephant's heavy trunk ("African elephant").
The ears' large surface area helps radiate excess heat under the harsh African sun. The ears are also used as a form of visual communication. Flapping ears can signify aggression or joy (Cushman, 2020). Elephant ears, used in conjunction with the soles of their feet and their trunk, aids in their ability to hear sounds over long distances (Cushman, 2020). On average, an elephant can hear another elephant's call at almost 2.5 miles away! Under ideal conditions, their hearing can range up to 6.2 miles (Cushman, 2020).
Asian Elephants vs. African Elephants
There is a multitude physical characteristics that differentiate Asian and African elephants. For example, Asian elephants are smaller and also have smaller and rounder ears compared to the large fan-shaped ears of the African elephant ("African vs Asian Elephants"). Both elephants use their ears to cool down however, due to the warmer climate in Africa, African elephants have bigger ears that are shaped like the continent Africa.
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Only a select amount of male Asian elephants have tusks whereas both males and females have tusks within the African species ("Difference between Asian and African elephants"). There have been cases of female Asian elephants with rudimentary tusks known as tushes ("African vs Asian Elephants").
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Asian and African elephants also have distinctly different head shapes. African elephants have more rounded heads with a single dome shape at the top of their heads while Asian elephants have a twin-domed head with an indent running down the middle of the domes ("African vs Asian Elephants").
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An African elephant's trunk has more visible rings on it and also as two distinct fingers that allows them to pick up and manipulate objects. Asian elephants only have one finger at the end of their trunks which they use to hold objects against the underside of their trunk ("Difference between Asian and African elephants").
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The texture of the two species also vary in terms of smoothness. The African elephant's skin is more wrinkled than those of Asian elephant's. This is due to the fact that the cracks help hold water, helping to keep the animals cool and preventing dehydration in their dry habitats ("Difference between Asian and African elephants"). The cracks are formed by the outermost layer of skin getting thicker and bending, until the brittle skin fractures under the pressure ("Difference between Asian and African elephants").
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Due to their herbivorous diet, elephants only have pre-molars or molars. African elephants have teeth that are "Loxadont" (sloping). The species name of the African elephant, Africana Loxadonta, was derived from their sloping teeth.
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