Natural History
The elephant is the largest living land animal, with adults sometimes weighing six tons
or more. Of the two species, the African Elephant
(Loxodonta africana) is larger and more plentiful than the
Asian Elephant
(Elephas maximus), although both are threatened by shrinking living space and
poaching for the ivory trade. There are 300,000 to 600,000 African (in 37 range countries)
and 35,000 to 50,000 Asian elephants (in 13 range countries) left in the wild.
They are generally peaceable, slow-moving, sure-footed creatures, but can run at
speeds up to 25 miles per hour or even swim underwater using their trunks as snorkels if
the situation warrants it.
The elephant's unique trunk is actually a boneless, elongation of the upper lip and
nose. Powerful enough to tear a tree from its roots and pick up hundreds of pounds, it is
still adept enough to pluck a feather or a coin from the ground with the fingerlike lobe(s)
at the tip. An elephant draws nearly fifty gallons up into its trunk every day, up to a
gallon and a half at a time, and squirts it onto itself or into its mouth. Similarly, it
plucks, pulls and rips hundreds of pounds of vegetation from its habitat in its endless
search for food. With forty thousand muscles, an elephant's trunk is one of the most
versatile of all mammalian creations. Indeed it is so useful to the animal that a
threatened elephant will hold it close to its body in a protective coil rather than risk
injuring it in battle.
An elephant's ivory tusks are the animal's second most distinctive feature-and also one
of the main reasons humans pose a threat to elephants. Used for digging, fighting and even
as a resting place for the heavy trunk, these tusks have been prized by hunters for
centuries for use in decorative arts, game pieces, signature seals, and musical instruments.
Elephant tusks are actually enlarged, protruding incisor teeth and have been recorded at
lengths as long as 10 feet. In recent years, however, average tusk size has diminished
significantly. Poaching has led to artificial selection pressure against large tuskers,
while herds have often become fragmented with loss of habitat.
Elephants also have other, lesser known distinguishing characteristics. Smell and touch
are perhaps their most keen senses, and their hearing is also surprisingly acute. Wandering
herds can communicate across distances of several miles using rumbles below the range of
human hearing (infrasound). Even from a distance they can warn each other of impending
danger or coordinate movements toward food and water.
The elephant brain is also relatively large compared to that of many other animals,
allowing for an intellect we are only beginning to understand. Elephants have been
observed using twigs and branches as tools for foraging and grooming. In relation to body
size, however, an elephant's brain is only about one-tenth the size of a human's.
