Savanna elephant
Savanna elephant, or otherwise known as African bush elephant, is the largest elephant in Africa. Considerably large ears help the animal radiate excess heat. The hind limbs are shorter than the fore-limbs. The animal possesses a tusk, which aids in marking, feeding, digging and fighting. The Savanna elephant impresses with its massive size: the largest individual of this species was 4 meters at the shoulder and as heavy as 10 tonnes.
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DiurnalDiurnal animals are active during the daytime, with a period of sleeping or other inactivity at night. The timing of activity by an animal depends ...
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HerbivoreA herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example, foliage, for the main component of its die...
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FolivoreIn zoology, a folivore is a herbivore that specializes in eating leaves. Mature leaves contain a high proportion of hard-to-digest cellulose, less ...
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FrugivoreA frugivore is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts, and seeds. Approx...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
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BrowsingBrowsing is a type of herbivory in which an herbivore (or, more narrowly defined, a folivore) feeds on leaves, soft shoots, or fruits of high-growi...
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GrazingGrazing is a method of feeding in which a herbivore feeds on plants such as grasses, or other multicellular organisms such as algae. In agriculture...
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NomadicNomadic animals regularly move to and from the same areas within a well-defined range. Most animals travel in groups in search of better territorie...
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ViviparousAmong animals, viviparity is the development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. The term 'viviparity' and its adjective form 'viviparous'...
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PolygynyPolygyny is a mating system in which one male lives and mates with multiple females but each female only mates with a single male.
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HerdingA herd is a social grouping of certain animals of the same species, either wild or domestic. The form of collective animal behavior associated with...
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Dominance hierarchyA dominance hierarchy (formerly and colloquially called a pecking order) is a type of social hierarchy that arises when members of animal social gr...
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Not a migrantAnimals that do not make seasonal movements and stay in their native home ranges all year round are called not migrants or residents.
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African bush elephants occur in Sub-Saharan Africa including Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Zambia, and Angola. They move between a variety of habitats, including forests, dry and seasonally flooded grasslands, and woodlands, shrubland, wetlands to mountain slopes. In Mali and Namibia, they also inhabit desert and semi-desert areas.
Savanna elephants live in a rather complex social hierarchy. These animals gather into family units, consisting of about 10 females and their offspring. Reaching maturity, male calves usually leave the family unit, forming bachelor herds or living solitarily. As a general rule, males socialize with these family groups only when mating. Meanwhile, several family herds may gather together, making up a 'clan'. Each clan is dominated by a female matriarch, and can consist of as many as several hundred elephants. African bush elephants are very careful and protective animals. Allomothering is a common practice in this species: females can raise calves of other females of their herd. They protect and care for calves of the herd, while all adults are sleeping. If a calf strays too far, these allomothers are responsible for retrieving the baby. These active animals are constantly on the move. These elephants forage during the daytime hours, wandering the home range of their herd. Savanna elephants freely communicate with conspecifics both verbally and non-verbally.
These herbivorous animals mainly feed upon leaves, roots, bark, grasses, fruit and other vegetation.
Savanna elephants have a polygynous mating system, where males are constantly in search of breeding females. They breed throughout the year with peak periods, occurring during the rainy seasons. When mating, males usually stay less than a few weeks with each female and her herd. Gestation period lasts as long as 2 years, yielding a single baby (rarely - twins), which is nursed for about 2 years. The calf then continues to live under protection of the entire herd until 6 years old, when the young elephant is able to live independently. Males of this species are sexually mature after 20 years old, whereas females are mature after 10 - 11 years, being most reproductive at 25 - 45 years old.
This elephant is currently threatened by poaching for its ivory fetches, which are highly valued in black markets in Asian countries as well as the United States. In addition, war and over-exploitation of natural resources usually cause increased poaching for their meat. African bush elephants frequently come into conflict with people as a result of growing human population: thus, about 70% of their range lie outside the protected areas, due to which they often damage agriculture and water supplies, leading to injuries and even mortality in both people and elephants. On the other hand, growing human population combined with land conversion is one of the biggest threats to the population of this species, causing fragmentation of their natural habitat.
According to the Wikipedia resource, the total number of the African bush elephants today is more than 15,000 individuals. Currently, this species is classified as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List, and its numbers are increasing.
African bush elephants play a significant role in the local ecosystem. Due to reducing tree density within their range, these animals maintain the ecosystem of savanna and open woodland, helping many plants and animals survive. Due to digging, they make holes in dry riverbeds; they usually dig or enlarge caves when looking for salt, thus creating shelter for various animals.
Social animals are those animals that interact highly with other animals, usually of their own species (conspecifics), to the point of having a rec...