African project.ppt

African Elephant By Dhruv and Mohamed Common Name and other Taxonomy Common Name: African Elephant Class: Proboscideal Order: Elephantidae Family: Loxodonta Africana Physical Description The African Elephant or ?Savannah Elephant? is the largest out of the # types of elephants Males or bulls grow to be anywhere between 10 to 13 feet in height and weight anywhere from 5 to 6 tons Females are slightly smaller. They ranger anywhere from 8 to 9 feet in height and weight anywhere between 4 to 5 tons. The African elephants feet undersides are soft and cushioned so they can support the enormous weight of the animal. They walk about 4 mph and can charge or stampede up to 40 mph. The elephant uses its trunk as its hand. The trunk is used to drink water, gather and eats shrubs, bathing, breathing, smelling and to interact with other elephants. The African elephant has big ears due to the fact that it lacks sweat glands. It flaps its ears to cool the blood in the veins from the ear which circulates back through the body. The African elephant has bigger ears than its cousin the Asian elephant because it lives in a hotter environment. They have four teeth which are all molars. They have jagged ridges so they can grind leaves. The four teeth can be 9 to 12 inches longs and weight anywhere from 4 to 6 pounds. They replace their teeth only 6 times in their life time and usually after they lose all their teeth they die due to starvation. The elephant also has two tusks, (elongated teeth) which they use to dig for water and rustle through leaves and bushes. These two teeth's are the heaviest of any living mammal in the world. The tusks can weight up to 45 pounds and grow 6 to 8 feet. The skin of the African elephant is wrinkled and has brushy hair on it. Behavior The elephants live together in a tight knitted group. They are usually headed my the oldest female. The elephant family can range from 2 elephants all the way up to 30 of them The family does everything together. They bathe, forage and travel as a group. They usually stay 150 to 200 ft within each other. If they separate for a long period of time, the greet the other elephants with a warm welcome and an emotional reunion like stomping there feet and making noises to show their happiness. The herd is very protective of the young. They will wipe out anything that they feel is a threat to their young. Male elephants usually start to stray away from the heard when they are about 6 years old and when they reach their maturity they live alone or join another bachelor herd. Elephants use their trunks to communicate with one another. They use it to touch and caress other elephants or even whip them to put unruly female elephants back in their place. Elephants use many signals to show how they are feeling. African elephants open their ears wide when they are ready to charge. They also trumpet or make sounds to communicate with other elephants. Elephants are very loyal and affectionate. They are willing to risk their lives in for other members of their family. They show happiness when new babies are born and they grieve when a family member die. Elephants usually mate when they are about 14 to 15 years old. Males become very aggressive during this period of time and they will fight any other bull who get in their way. After 22 months of gestation a baby elephant is born and it weights around one ton. Habitat Fossils of elephants showed that they lived on every continent except Australia and Antarctica Elephants occupy an array of environments in Africa and Southeast Asia?grasslands, marshes, forests, deserts, and mountains African elephants are native to a wide variety of habitats including semi-desert scrub, open savannas and dense forest regions. They usually live away from human disturbance. Map of Distribution Map of Distribution(cont.) Importance of Elephants African elephants allows suns to penetrate the holes they made by eating grass and bushes in the ground and this makes low growing plants thrive. They also turn soil around and allow new plants to grow where they had eaten the past ones. Also in times of drought they dig water holes which also gives other animals a supply of water too. They also create paths for small animals and humans to use when they walk through the forests. Elephants act as seed dispersers by their fecal matter. It is often carried below ground by dung beetles and termites causing the soil to become more aerated and further distributing the nutrients History and Reason Of Endangerment Elephants have Benn used to serve and train people for more than 2000 years. They had to be trained to carry heavy loads for long distances as well as trained to be used in battle as well. Elephants have been used to pull logs in forests, clear forest paths, carrying passengers and also assisting in capturing other elephants. They have been put on the endangerment due to their senseless slaughter by ivory traders and merchants. In the 1900s the wild elephant population stood at 5 million to 10 million; by 1979 hunting and habitat destruction had reduced it to 1.3 million. In ten years it has been estimated that 60000 elephant have been slaughtered for their ivory tusks. Research and efforts to save Species Elephant researchers, mangers and other wildlife experts are trying their best to preserve and save this species. Zoos have been promoting elephant preservation by educating people about their importance as well as breeding them to save them from extinction. In 1989 America banned the import of ivory and soon after many other nations did the same. The united states also created an African elephant conservation act which awards up to 5 million dollars a year for saving elephants. National parks and other wildlife refuges have been set up to help preserve these humble giants. Bibliography Elephant," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2008 http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Zuber, C., and B. Coleman. "African Elephant." African Elephant 1st ser. 1. See I. Douglas-Hamilton and O. Douglas-Hamilton, Among the Elephants (1978); R. Sukamar, The Asian Elephant (1989); C. Bosman, Elephants of Africa (1989); S. Alexander, The Astonishing Elephant (2000).