The African Bush Elephant

There are two species of elephant that hail from the continent of Africa, and the larger of the two would be the African Bush Elephant (Loxodonta Africana).

Also known as the Bush Elephant or the Savanna Elephant, the massive creature is known to be the largest land dwelling animal that still exists in the modern world. It is known for its significantly large head, complete with two large ears which cover its shoulders, two long and prominent tusks, and a long large muscular trunk. It is also characterized for its short neck, large body which resembles a barrel, four long, heavy legs, and a short tail. The creature’s body is covered with a protective laver of heavy, flexible, gray to brown skin, dotted with patches of hair. Its back feet most definitely have three toes which form a formidable hoof; while there have been reports of their front feet having four or five toes.

The Size and Weight

The African Bush Elephant can easily reach 6 to 7 meters in length – that’s as long as 4 to 5 average men lying down in one horizontal line! It can also grow as tall as 3 to 3.5 meters in height or an equivalent to two to three automobiles on top of each other. With this gargantuan size, it is no wonder that the African Bush Elephant can reach weights as high as 15,000 to 22,000 pounds. Despite its massive size and weight, this magnificent creature can move at a normal rate of 4 miles per hour, but when it gets scared or agitated for any reason it may very well run at speeds of up to 25 miles per hour.

The African Bush elephants are herbivores, meaning that they eat only plants. What they eat depends on where they are located in Africa. In other words, these elephants tend to eat more of herbs, shrub and tree leaves when they reside in forests and grasslands. Meanwhile, elephants that inhabit lake shores have the alternative option of eating underwater plants. Either way, this plant material makes its way into the elephant’s stomach by way of breaking down in the mouth, through four large molars which are replaced as they become worn away over time. This means that the African Bush Elephant has a whole lot of chewing to do in its lifetime!

They are able to drink as much as 190 liters of water in a day, easily supplementing their consumption of a daily average of 225 kilograms of leaves and familiar matter. This amount is most often than not defecated without going through the whole digestion process. That fact isn’t a bad thing either, since this animal travels great distances in a day in search of food. As it travels, it would truly make a big contribution to the spread of plant seeds over a wide expanse of land.

Despite its size, the African Bush elephant has demonstrated how intelligent it is after experiments related to reasoning and learning have been conducted on them. Together with its Asian cousins, they are the smartest ungulates (roughly translated as ‘hoofed animals’). Hence the expression, ‘An elephant never forgets’.

The Elephant Community

The African Bush elephant herds are compose of related females and calves, it is usually led by the eldest female known as the matriarch. Adult males tag along from time to time but eventually leave to form herds alongside other elephants belonging to the same age group. Even then they still spread out, only to approach female herds during mating seasons. Regardless, elephants have the tendency to stick close to their families, even doing as much as recognizing them when they see each other again.

In a female herd, the matriarch is the authority which decides what route to take and what water sources to go to. This will serve well when the other members of the herd become fortunate enough to become matriarchs themselves. Bonds within the herd are very strong – when a new elephant is born, the rest of the herd would acknowledge it by touching it with their trunks. When an old elephant passes away the rest of the herd would tend to stay by the corpse for a considerable amount of time. African Bush elephants are intelligent in that matter since they are able to recognize a carcass belonging to its species while they travel, and even if it is not an elephant from their herd, they would still sometimes touch its forehead with their trunks.

The Elephant predators

Regardless of their strength, size, and intelligence, the African Bush elephant is no stranger to predators. Adults are significantly larger than other natural predators in existence, but their calves (particularly the newborn) are most vulnerable to lion and crocodile attacks. This is one significant factor which contributes to African Bush elephant infant mortality, in addition to drought.

It is the human, however, who hunted the elephant for more than just food. Hunters have taken elephants down for their meat, as well as their skin, bones, and tusks. This trend boomed during the 19^th and 20^th centuries. It was only during 1989 that specific laws were enacted against the hunting of the African Bush Elephant. Ivory trading was also banned to further discourage the hunting of these mighty creatures.

At the beginning of the 20^th century there have been several million elephants known to roam the African continent. When these laws were enacted, there were an estimated number of 700,000 left. Though protection programs have been enforced, poaching and hunting of these animals remains to be a common practice in Africa. CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) now considers the African Bush elephant as an endangered animal.

Measures must be taken to save this gentle giant before the world starts looking for another largest living land animal to exploit.