The elephants (Elephantidae) are a family in the order Proboscidea in the class Mammalia. They were once classified along with other thick skinned animals in a now invalid order, Pachydermata. There are three living species: the African Bush Elephant, the African Forest Elephant (until recently known collectively as the African Elephant), and the Asian Elephant (also known as the Indian Elephant). Other species have become extinct since the last ice age, which ended about 10,000 years ago, the Mammoth being the most well-known of these.
| Savannah Loxodonta Africana Africana |
Forest Loxodonta Africana Cyclotis |
|
| Height | 3-4 metres | 2-3 metres |
| Weight | 4-7 tonnes | 2-4 tonnes |
| Colour | grey | dark grey |
The African elephant, Loxodonta Africana, have a straight back, enormous ears, and two trunk 'fingers'.
African elephants are named for the peculiar shaped ridges of their molar teeth; the ridges of an African elephant's teeth are coarser and fewer than those of the Asian elephant.
The African elephant has only four toes on the front feet and three on the back. Interestingly, it has one more vertebra in the lumbar section of the spine.
Both sexes have tusks, and they are also larger in size as compared to male and female Asian elephants.
The largest African elephant recorded weighed over nine tons and stood more than twelve feet high at the shoulder. As in Asian elephants, the female African elephant is generally half the size of a fully grown male.
Gestation period tends to be slightly longer than in the Asian elephant.