Changes

==Description==

==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

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.  Forest elephant 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.

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 legs are columnar and massive; the feet are broad and round.  

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.

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.  While both species bear five toes on the forefeet, the African elephant bears three toes on the hind feet; the Asian species has four, and sometimes five, toes on the hind feet.  

===Species===

===Species===