How are elephants different? Why are Indian and African elephants different? The difference between elephants in trunks
Speaking of elephants (lat. elephantidae), most of us imagine large gray animals with large ears, long tusks and a trunk, no different from each other. However, these in the highest degree smart and worthy creatures deserve to take a closer look at them.
A long time ago, in the Pleistocene era (2 million - 10 thousand years ago), almost everywhere the globe the ancient representatives of the Proboscis order moved freely - giant elephants, mammoths and mastodons, however, by the end of this period, only two genera of elephants remained alive, which are today the largest land mammals - African (lat. Loxodonta) and (Asian) (lat. Elephas maximus). African elephants, in turn, are divided into (lat. Loxodonta africana) and (lat. Loxodonta cyclotis).
Despite the seemingly almost 100% resemblance, African and Indian elephants have a lot of differences. African (savannah) elephants are larger than Indian ones - in highest point bodies (in the shoulders) they can reach 3.7 meters, and their weight exceeds 6-7 tons. Indian elephants are smaller than savannas, but larger than forest ones - they weigh about 5 tons and grow up to 3.5 meters.
Ears African elephants very large, their shape resembles the outlines of the "black" continent, and the pattern of the veins is individual, like human fingerprints. Long strong tusks adorn the heads of not only males (like Indian elephants), but also females.
An elephant's tusks are nothing more than its incisor teeth. And it is also an indispensable tool for protection, searching for water and lifting various objects. Like humans, elephants can be right-handed or left-handed, making the most of their right or left tusk. Each elephant has its own, individual shape of the tusk, its size and angle of inclination, which greatly facilitates the "recognition" of individual individuals for researchers.
In addition to tusks, elephants have four more molars, each of which weighs about 2.3 kilograms and is as large as a brick. During their life, elephants completely renew the entire set of molars six times. As elephants age, their teeth become too sensitive, and they move to the swamps in search of softer vegetation. Here they remain until the end of their lives, becoming an unwitting source of many legends that elderly elephants go to die in some mysterious "valleys of death."
The most, probably main feature of any elephant is its trunk, which is both a nose and an upper lip. The elephant's trunk is controlled by more than 40 thousand muscles, so it is equally masterful in lifting both a heavy log and a straw. At the end of the trunk of an African elephant, there are two finger-like outgrowths adapted for a comfortable grip, while the Indian elephant has only one such “finger”.
Elephants are thick-skinned animals, in the truest sense of the word - in some places, the thickness of their skin can reach 3.5-4 centimeters. However, this does not prevent her from remaining extremely sensitive, sensing the presence of even the smallest insects. To protect themselves from their stinging bites or to cool themselves, elephants douse themselves with water, roll in mud or dust.
Both Indian and African elephants live in groups united by family kinship. The herd is led by the oldest and most experienced female, on whose decisions the entire life of the group depends - she determines when it is time for lunch, rest or a change of habitat.
The constant presence of adult males in the herd is completely excluded - they leave the family at the age of 12-13 years, leading a solitary lifestyle or uniting with the same loners, and visit the elephants only during the mating period, without taking any part in the further upbringing of the offspring. Groups living in the neighborhood are often also related and greet each other joyfully when they meet on the banks of water bodies.
The most developed sense in elephants is the sense of smell, but sounds play the most important role in their communication. Clapping ears warns of danger, calling to stand in a circle and protect the smallest and weakest, the trampling of feet and many variations of sounds also carry certain information for those who are at a distance of up to 8 kilometers. And even such an unpleasant phenomenon for a person as rumbling in the stomach is very welcome in the elephant community - everyone who hears it knows that everything is calm around.
To fill its stomach, an adult elephant needs to eat from 100 to 200 kilograms of succulent grass, leaves and fruits and drink about 120 liters of water. From the first days of life, newborn elephants are taught by adult females in the wisdom of handling the trunk - they are shown how to draw water into it and pour it into their mouths.
Editorial responseAugust 12 is World Elephant Day. This holiday is designed to draw public attention to the problems of these giants: poaching, disease and reduction natural environment habitat. Today, there are only a little over 700 thousand elephants left in the world, although at the beginning of the last century there were several million.
AiF.ru collected 17 interesting facts from the life of elephants.
Photo: www.globallookpress.com
African elephants are larger than Indian ones.
There are two types of elephants - Indian and African. Indian elephants live in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and also on the Indochina peninsula. The African elephant is common in Africa, south of the Sahara. In large numbers, elephants are found only in national parks and reserves.
The African elephant is taller than the Indian elephant, its ears are larger, its skin is rougher, the trunk is thinner, the tusks that males and females have are more developed. The weight of males reaches 5-7.5 tons, females - 3-4 tons.
Indian male elephants weigh 4.5-5 tons, female elephants - 3-4 tons. Tusks in females, as a rule, do not happen.
A number of zoologists distinguish two different species among African elephants - forest (living in the jungle) and savannah (living in the savannah). The most important difference between these two subspecies is the shape of the ears and the number of toes. Long-eared bush elephant four toes on the front legs, and only three toes on the hind legs. The forest elephant has one more toe on each foot.
elephants different types do not interbreed and therefore do not reproduce.
Photo: www.globallookpress.com
Elephants fought and harvested
Elephants were often used as weapons and vehicles in war. In addition, elephants helped people in the harvest. And now huge animals are used in agriculture, many of them are involved in the tourism business. And the elephant trails that the animals laid in the impenetrable jungle were used to build roads.
Elephant females live separately from males
Both African and Indian elephants live in herds. The basis of the herd is a family group of 5-15 females and cubs, which is headed by an old and experienced female elephant.
Males form separate herds. An adult male may temporarily join a herd with females that has at least one female elephant ready to conceive.
The elephant is a sacred animal
The elephant is one of the most important symbolic figures of Hinduism and Buddhism. An example is Airavata - an elephant, which rides Indra - the king of the gods and the ruler of the heavenly kingdom in Vedic and Hindu mythology. The Buddha himself in one of his incarnations was a white elephant. Some gods of the Hindu pantheon are depicted in the form of an elephant, for example, the god of wisdom, Ganesha.
Most old temple Chiang Mai, Wat Chiang Man. Thailand. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
Elephants suffer from leeches
Elephants can be attacked by land leeches. To get rid of a sucking leech, an elephant, taking a stick with its trunk, scrapes it over its body. Even if an elephant cannot reach a leech with a stick, another elephant also helps him get rid of the bloodsuckers with a stick.
Vision is the weakest sense in elephants, they see only 20 meters into the distance. But elephants have a very good sense of smell and hearing.
Photo: www.globallookpress.com
Ear for music
Elephants have an ear for music and musical memory, they are able to distinguish melodies from three notes.
During an experiment carried out in national park Kenya, scientists have found that elephants are able to distinguish a male voice from a female, the voice of a child from the voice of an adult, and determine a possible threat. The study showed that elephants react differently to human speech and are able to distinguish one language from another.
Elephants flap their ears to lower their body temperature
The auricles of elephants are permeated with numerous blood vessels - capillaries. The blood entering the capillaries gives off heat to environment, thereby creating a mechanism for regulating heat in the body. Big square the surface of the auricles allows elephants to effectively get rid of excess heat. Ear flapping increases the cooling effect.
Elephants greet with trunks
Elephant individuals greet each other by stroking or hugging their trunks. Elephants touch each other's mouths, temporal glands, and genitals when they meet or when aroused, which allows them to perceive signals based on chemical secretions.
Tactile contact is especially important in communication between a female elephant and a baby elephant. When moving, the mother constantly touches the cub with her trunk, legs or tail. Older individuals punish the younger ones with blows of the trunk.
Elephants communicate with each other using the vibrations of the earth.
Elephants feel the vibrations of the earth and the sound waves passing through it. Thus, an individual running or imitating running, stamping its feet, transmits signals to relatives that can be caught at great distances - more than 30 km.
Photo: www.globallookpress.com
Elephants are good swimmers
Despite big weight Elephants are remarkably mobile. They swim well or move along the bottom of the reservoir, exposing only their trunk above the water.
Elephants sleep standing up
Elephants sleep standing up, gathered together in a dense group, only the cubs lie on their side on the ground. Elephants sleep an average of 40 minutes, several hours a day.
Elephants are vegetarians
Elephants feed exclusively on plant foods: leaves, branches, shoots, bark and roots of trees and shrubs. During wet season most The diet consists of herbaceous plants like papyrus and cattail. Older elephants feed mainly on marsh vegetation, which is less nutritious but softer.
On a day, one elephant consumes from 100 to 300 kg of food (5% own weight) and drinks 100-220 liters of water.
Photo: www.globallookpress.com
Elephants themselves create artificial reservoirs
Elephants need a daily watering place and in the dry season they sometimes dig holes in the beds of dry rivers, where water from the aquifers of the soil collects. These watering holes are used not only by elephants, but also by other animals, including buffaloes and rhinos.
Elephant pregnancy lasts about two years
Pregnancy in elephants is the longest among mammals and lasts 20-22 months. The female usually brings only one cub, there are twins in exceptional cases (only 1-2%).
A newborn baby elephant weighs 90-120 kg with a height of about 1 m. 15-30 minutes after birth, he rises to his feet and can follow his mother.
Females follow the baby elephants for four years after birth, while milk feeding can last 1.5-5 years.
Childbirth occurs every 2.5-9 years, during her life the elephant brings 1-9 cubs.
Photo: www.globallookpress.com
Elephants are long-lived
African elephants live up to 60-70 years, continuing to grow slowly throughout their lives. In captivity, their age reaches 80 years.
The life expectancy of an elephant is limited by the degree of wear of its molars, when the last teeth fall out, the elephant loses the ability to chew food normally and dies of hunger.
Elephants are "left-handed" and "right-handed"
Elephants, like people, can be "left-" and "right-handed", because they adapt to work with one or another tusk. For this reason, one of the tusks is much shorter than the other, it wears out quickly.
One third of an elephant's tusk is hidden under the skull. AT modern times there are no individuals with huge tusks, because all such elephants were exterminated by hunters many decades ago, and the length of the tusk is a genetically inherited trait.
The African elephant and the Indian elephant are representatives of different species of the same elephant family. As close relatives, they have much in common, but their differences are obvious even to a non-specialist: animals differ not only in appearance, but also in their behavior.
Elephants are loved by many people - both adults and children. These huge and strong animals exude reliability and inner peace. Unfortunately, the once large family of elephants has been practically destroyed, and today only two species remain on earth - the Indian and African elephants. But not everyone knows how to distinguish them from each other.
Surprisingly, these two representatives of the same family - the Indian and African elephants - have such obvious differences that biologists have classified them as separate species. Even outwardly, the animals are very different and this is noticeable even in the photo.
Comparison of African and Indian Elephant: Sizes
And we will start with the most obvious indicator, which is obvious even to a person who is far from biology. It is known that on Earth there is no larger land dweller than an elephant. What do you think, which elephant is bigger - Indian or African? Of course, the African is larger than his Asian relative and is the most large mammal on the land. The height of this giant at shoulder level reaches four meters. And the length of the body in some cases exceeds seven meters. The weight of the giant is up to seven tons.
Indian elephants, in comparison with their counterparts, look just “babies”: their height does not exceed three meters, their length is about six meters, and their weight is rarely more than five tons.
body outline
Even in the outlines of the body, one can see the differences between the Indian elephant and the African elephant. "African" has a straight or slightly concave back. In the "Asian" it is convex. Indian elephant has thicker and shorter limbs and therefore he looks more overweight. The African elephant simply needs long legs, since he eats only the foliage of trees, for which he has to reach quite high, and his counterpart from Asia often eats some food from the ground.
Skeleton
Now you know the answer to the question of which of the animals - the Indian or the African elephant - is larger, so when you come to the circus or zoo, you can easily determine their species. But these giants also have some features. internal structure, which are not visible to a person far from biology. The fact is that in the structure of the skeleton there are differences between the African elephant and the Indian elephant. The first has twenty-one pairs of ribs, the second has only nineteen. An African elephant has thirty-three vertebrae in its tail, while an Asian elephant has twenty-six.
Skin covering
Another indicator by which it is easy to understand how the African and Indian elephants differ: the skin of the “African” is covered with numerous wrinkles, and the smooth surface of the body of the Asian animal is covered with small hairs. There are also differences in skin color: the Indian giant is much darker than its African counterpart. The first skin is brown or dark gray, and the second is gray, even sometimes has a brown tint.
Ears
Representatives of these species differ in the length and shape of the ears. Large, elongated, somewhat rounded ears were awarded by the nature of the “African”, and the Asian elephant got smaller ears: they are more elongated and pointed.
tusks
Luxurious tusks (in females they are slightly smaller) are endowed with a male African elephant. And the Indian elephant has tusks, but the females are completely deprived of them. A native of Africa has a curved tusk and in males it reaches three and a half meters in length. In the "Asian" it is much shorter and, moreover, almost straight.
trunks
And even the trunk - salient feature of these animals - the African and Indian elephants have a different structure. And in one and the other animal, they have processes that resemble fingers in shape. True, there are two of them on the trunk of an elephant from Africa, and only one from India.
Indian elephant habitat
Unlike the African counterpart, the Indian elephant is a forest dweller. He likes a light forest, especially with a small undergrowth of bamboo thickets. Today, the favorite place of these animals, where they went when the air temperature dropped, is the savanna, reserved for Agriculture. In the summer, animals go to the mountains, rise to the Himalayas, to the border where eternal snows lie.
Indian elephants, living in natural conditions, create family groups that can number up to twenty individuals. The leader in such a group is an old and experienced female. Indian elephants are obedient animals, easy to train and excellent at work. A special saddle is installed on the back of the animal, which can accommodate up to four people.
Where does the African elephant live?
The African giant prefers to settle in the steppes of Africa and Egypt. Representatives of this species live in Ceylon, India, Burma, Indochina. Animals are united in herds, the number of which can reach fifty individuals.
There are also solitary elephants. As a rule, these are rather aggressive individuals that can pose a danger to other animals. A rather friendly atmosphere reigns in the herd, elephants take care of their offspring, support each other. Elephants are able to show emotions and quickly remember people, objects, places.
An African elephant eats up to one hundred and thirty kilograms of food per day (fruits, leaves, tree bark) and spends most of its time searching for food. These giants sleep no more than four hours a day. As a rule, they settle near water bodies and drink almost two hundred liters of water per day. The African elephant, despite its impressive size, is an excellent swimmer, swimming long distances.
Behavior
The African elephant and the Indian elephant differ in their temperament. Representatives Indian look more friendly towards people, it is not difficult to tame them. It is their inhabitants of Asian countries that are used to perform heavy physical work, for example, when transporting bulky heavy items. And in the circus, Indian elephants often demonstrate their skills to us.
The African Elephant is quite often aggressive and it takes a lot of effort to train him, although this task cannot be called impossible.
These mammals differ in the language of communication that is quite understandable to humans. When the animal is "not in the mood" or aggressive, it spreads its ears. For defense, tusks, a trunk and powerful legs are used. When an elephant senses danger or is frightened by something, it squeals and runs away, destroying everything in its path.
species status
Once upon a time, herds of African elephants reached four hundred individuals. Nowadays, the number of all species is rapidly declining and animals are listed in the International Red Book. Both species are on the verge of extinction. Scientists believe that the main reason for this is the destruction of the natural habitat of these giants. They are listed in the Red Book: African in the section "Endangered", Indian - in the "Threatened".
No matter how different these huge animals are, we must not forget that they are in dire need of human help. Only he can take action to save these animals from extinction. Otherwise, one day people will simply lose these smart and strong helpers.
- Did you know that among elephants there are "right-handers" and "left-handers"? Determining which category an animal belongs to is quite simple: by the length of the tusks. A shorter one indicates belonging to a particular category.
- Ivory is very expensive, so animals die en masse at the hands of poachers. Despite the fact that trade in this material is now banned in most countries, up to a hundred animals die every year at the hands of man.
- Elephants have four molars. The weight of each of them, the size of a brick, weighs two to three kilograms. Six times during a lifetime, molars change.
- The trunk - the connection of the nose with the upper lip, which the elephant breathes, takes a shower, drinks, sniffs and makes sounds, contains one hundred thousand muscles. With it, the animal lifts objects weighing up to a thousand kilograms, and carries them over tens of kilometers.
What is the difference between an Indian elephant and an African one? Just don't say size. What else?
Dear, KatyuShk@, let's proceed in order.
For clarity, I added pictures, I hope all this will fit in 2500 characters.
Number one goes, really size. Males of the modern African savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana) reach a height in the back of 3.5 m, females up to 3 m. Weight up to 7.5 tons. The modern Indian (more precisely, Asian) elephant (Elephas asiaticus) is smaller than the African one. The height of the male is 3.0-3.2 m, the female is 2.6-2.9 m. Weight is up to 5 tons.
2. Body proportions. The difference in body proportions among elephants can be explained if we consider them depending on the way of life and the nature of their diet. The long legs and tall stature of the African elephant can be explained as the result of adaptation to feeding on twigs and leaves, the Indian elephant eats both herbaceous vegetation and twigs and leaves, and the nature of the diet undoubtedly affected the proportions of its body.
(In the first picture, an Indian elephant, in the second African, respectively)
4. Ears. The African elephant has much more. And in the Indian they are lowered down and, as it were, pointed (see figure).
5. The structure of the spine, namely the spinous processes. In short, their absolute dimensions are almost the same, however, the degree of increase in the length of the processes, starting from the neck, and then its decrease towards the caudal region, is more pronounced in the African counterpart.
6. The presence of light hair in Indian elephants, a slight difference in the structure of the molars (also due to the type of food) and a few other minor nuances.
More about elephants and.
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I will add a little to Mr. Leshchenko. The fact that Indian elephants have almost no tusks is somewhat exaggerated. Many individuals have tusks, but they are hidden under the skin. Although, it is worth recognizing that now there are no elephants with huge tusks, since all individuals with such tusks were knocked out by hunters centuries ago, and the length of the tusks is a genetically inherited trait.
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Yes, well done Rich!
I will add about 4 subspecies. What is commonly called the Indian elephant is actually a subspecies of the Asian. And there are 4 of them: Indian elephant (E. m. indicus), Sri Lankan elephant (E. m. maximus), Sumatran elephant (E. m. sumatrensis), Borneo elephant (E. m. borneensis). However, this is all in the link to Wikipedia, which I gave above.
It's hard to believe, but 2 representatives of the elephant family - the African elephant and its fellow Indian elephant - have such clear differences that biologists even attributed these animals to various types. Many differences are observed even in their appearance- they are striking to everyone, even if you look only at the pictures of these elephants. The difference in size and large mammal on land Everyone knows that on our planet there is no land dweller larger than an elephant. There is also less known fact- the African elephant exceeds the size of its Indian (Asian) relative, that is, it is the most large mammal on the land. The height of the African elephant Its height at shoulder level can reach as much as 4 meters! And the length of the body is from 6 to 7 meters, sometimes a little more. The body weight of this giant is up to 7000 kg. The Asian elephant is smaller - it grows up to 3 m in height, up to 6 meters in length, its weight rarely exceeds 5000 kg.
The difference in the shape of the ears
Elephant ears have different shapes and lengths. The African elephant is the owner of large, elongated rounded hearing organs. The Asian ears are smaller, more elongated to the ground, pointed. Difference in tusks
Not only the male, but also the female African elephant has luxurious tusks (of course, the “girls” have smaller tusks). females Asian elephants tusks are completely devoid of tusks, and sometimes even males do not have them (the inhabitants of India called these elephants “makhna”). The tusk of an elephant from Africa is very long (up to 3.5 m) and strongly curved. The tusk of the Asian elephant is shorter and almost straight.
body surface
The skin of an elephant from Africa is covered with a large number of wrinkles. The surface of the body of the Asian elephant is covered with small hairs. There are also differences in skin color - the Asian elephant is darker (dark gray, brown), the African elephant is gray with a slight brown tint.
Body outline
Elephants are not similar to each other even in body outlines - an elephant from Africa has a straight back, sometimes slightly concave. The back of the Asian elephant is clearly convex. The limbs of the elephant from India are thicker and shorter, so it looks more overweight. Long legs the African elephant needs - he eats only the foliage of trees, for which he reaches high. His counterpart from India also eats some food from the ground, and not just leaves and branches from a tree.
The difference between elephants in trunks 
The trunks of these animals are also arranged differently - they have processes that resemble fingers in shape. Only on the trunk of an African elephant there are 2 of them, and in an Asian elephant there is only 1.
In the skeletal structure
There are also differences in the structure of the skeleton of these animals. The African elephant has 21 pairs of ribs, the Asian - only 19. The African elephant has 33 vertebrae in the tail, its relative has only 26. The permanent teeth of these mammals also have their own characteristics. African elephants become adults at about 25 years old, Indian - already at 15-20 years old.
Difference in behavior
Giants also differ in their disposition - the Indian elephant is more friendly when communicating with people, it is easy to make them tame. The inhabitants of Asia use these elephants for various hard physical work - when transporting bulky items, for example. The audience in the circus is also entertained by these elephants. An elephant from Africa is much more likely to show aggression and it takes a lot of effort to make it tame, although it is possible to make them domestic. There is evidence that African elephants took part in the military raid on Rome by the commander Hannibal. All elephants live in herds. Asian elephants they gather in a group of 15-20 individuals, as a rule, an elderly female is at the head. Herds of African elephants at some time could include up to 400 individuals. Unfortunately, the number of all elephants is greatly reduced, today these animals are under the protection of the Red Book.