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|name=Elephant
|name=Elephant
|image=elephant.jpg
|image=elephant.jpg
|caption=
|caption=African elephant<br/>''Loxodonta africana''
|superkingdom=
|superkingdom=
|kingdom= Animalia
|kingdom= Animalia
|subtribe=
|subtribe=
|genera=
|genera=
|genus=Loxodonta<br/>Elephas
|genus=Elephas<br/>Loxodonta
|subgenus=
|subgenus=
|species=L. africana<br/>L. cyclotis<br/>E. maximus
|species=E. maximus<br/>L. africana<br/>L. cyclotis
|binomialname=
|binomialname=
|sub=
|sub=
|alt=
|alt=
}}
}}
'''Elephants''' are three species of large land mammals belonging to the family Elephantidae - the only extant family belonging to the order Proboscidea. The three elephant species currently recognized by scientists are the African [[Bush]] Elephant (''Loxodonta africana''), the African [[Forest]] Elephant (''Loxodonta cyclotis''), and the Asian, or Indian, Elephant (''Elephas maximus''). Centuries of hunting elephants for their ivory has reduced the population of these animals. Renewed efforts at stewardship have caused a population boom, with the number of elephants in Africa alone tripling in the last decade.
'''Elephants''' are three species of large land mammals belonging to the family Elephantidae, the only extant family belonging to the order Proboscidea. The three elephant species currently recognized by scientists are the African bush elephant (''Loxodonta africana''), African forest elephant (''Loxodonta cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''). Centuries of hunting elephants for their ivory has reduced the population of these animals. Renewed efforts at stewardship have caused a population boom, with the number of elephants in Africa alone tripling in the last decade.
Elephants are the largest land animals alive today. Apart from their massive size their most striking features are a long trunk, or proboscis, a flexible nose strong enough to lift objects, their huge [[ivory]] tusks, and their large flapping ears, used to keep them cool.
==Description==
Elephants are the largest land animals alive today. The largest elephant ever recorded (the Fenykovi elephant, now in the [[Smithsonian Institution]]) was a male shot in [[Angola]] in 1955; it weighed about 10.7 tonnes (12 U.S. tons) and stood 13 feet, 2 inches at the shoulder<ref>http://siarchives.si.edu/history/exhibits/thisday/march.htm</ref><ref>http://www.cardcow.com/151863/african-bush-elephant-animals-elephants/</ref>. The slightly-smaller Asian elephant had a maximum recorded height of 11 feet 9 inches and eight tons in one individual recorded in 1985. The forest elephant is the smallest of the three species, with bulls rarely exceeding eight feet in height
Apart from their massive size their most striking features are a long trunk, or proboscis, a flexible nose strong enough to lift heavy objects. Their skin is up to 1.5 inches thick and gray in color, with the skin of African bush elephants more heavily wrinkled than their Asian counterparts. All three species possess ivory tusks, but they are generally lacking in female Asian elephants unless rudimentary in size, and even then are only seen when the mouth is open.
The African species differs from Asian elephants in the overall shape of the back; it is "saddle-shaped', i.e. the back is concave in the center, while the Asian species has a distinctive hump or arch. African elephants also have larger, fan-shaped ears extending over, and nearly completely-covering, the neck; Asian elephant ears are much smaller. There are two finger-like processes at the tip of the trunk in the African species, while Asian elephants bear one.
===Species===
African elephants are represented by two species, with one subspecies living into historical times:
*Bush elephant (''Loxodonta africana''), of the savannahs and grasslands of sub-Saharan Africa;
::North African elephant (''Loxodonta africana pharaoensis''), of north Africa, now extinct. It may have been the elephant species used by [[Hannibal]] in his march against the Romans.
*Forest elephant (''Loxodonta cyclotis''), of the tropical rain forests in central Africa.
The Asian elephant has three subspecies:
*Indian elephant (''Elephas maximus indicus''), of southern and south-eastern Asia;
*Sri Lankan elephant (''Elephas maximus maximus''), of the island of [[Sri Lanka]] in the Indian Ocean;
*Sumatran elephant (''Elephas maximus sumatranus''), of the islands of Sumatra and Borneo in [[Indonesia]].
Bull elephants, when inclined to mate, enter a frenzied state called ''musth''; they fight with each other for possession of the cow elephants, and become a menace to everything in their path; many humans are killed at this time. Elephants' gestation period, at 22 months, is the longest of any land mammal. At birth it is common for an elephant calf to weigh 120 kg (265 lb). An elephant may live as long as 70 years, sometimes longer.
Bull elephants, when inclined to mate, enter a frenzied state called ''musth''; they fight with each other for possession of the cow elephants, and become a menace to everything in their path; many humans are killed at this time. Elephants' gestation period, at 22 months, is the longest of any land mammal. At birth it is common for an elephant calf to weigh 120 kg (265 lb). An elephant may live as long as 70 years, sometimes longer.
==Uses of Elephants==
==Uses of Elephants==