Day of the Elephantidae
Somewhere in the African Savanna, as a pride of lions prowls in the tall grass, tracking a gathering of wildebeest, and as a flock of gazelles tiptoes from one lonely Acacia tree to another, constantly watched by a leopard camouflaged in the distance, and as many other predator-prey species play hide-and-seek, there is a majestic movement between all these acts of survival. It has a commanding presence and mostly remains unperturbed by all that is transpiring around. This is the march of the African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) – the largest land animals – which are searching for food, water, and mates over a vast territory.
African savanna elephants, also known as African bush elephants, need to eat about 160 kg of vegetation a day, involving grass, leaves, bark, fruit, and foliage, for which they walk over long distances in herds comprising around 10 females (called cows) and their calves. The bulls, which function on their own, associate with these herds only to breed. Several family units often join together to form a ‘clan’ consisting of up to several hundred members led by a matriarch, and they march.
During a prolonged African summer, when rivers and waterholes go dry, elephants are known to migrate as far as over 100 km. And when they are not moving, these lofty creatures stand still or lie down to sleep (for about 2-3 hours in 24 hours), or actively engage in ingesting consumed food, interact with a conspecific species, protect their young from predators, or the calves themselves play-fight each other. Their life is a common sight across the vast Savannah – a tropical-subtropical grassland containing scattered trees and drought-resistant undergrowth – which occupies much of Botswana, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya, Namibia, Zambia, and South Africa.
The African savanna elephant has an elusive cousin, the African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), which inhabits the dense rainforests of West and Central Africa. Its preference for dense forest habitats hampers traditional counting methods, such as visual identification. Hence, its population is usually estimated through dung counts. African forest elephants are smaller than their savanna counterparts, reaching a height of 8-10 feet, compared to 10-11 feet, respectively.
They also weigh less at 2-5 tons, compared to the savanna elephant’s imposing 4-8 tons. African forest elephants live in family groups of up to 20 individuals and forage on leaves, grass, seeds, fruit, and bark. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF): “Since the diet of forest elephants is dominated by fruit, they play a crucial role in dispersing many tree species. They are therefore referred to as the ‘mega-gardener of the forest’.” These two sub-types are collectively termed ‘African elephant’, which along with their far-off relative, the ‘Asian elephant’, form the unique family ‘Elephantidae’, which consists of large, herbivorous proboscidean mammals collectively called elephants and mammoths.
They belong to the taxonomic order of large terrestrial mammals with a proboscis or snout modified into a trunk, and teeth modified into tusks. Proboscidea is Greek for ‘having a nose’. Most specimens in the family are extinct, with only two genera, Loxodonta (African elephants) and Elephas (Asian elephants), surviving today.
A trunk that counts
Paleontologists and mammalogists believe that at various periods, proboscideans roamed the Earth, except in Australia and Antarctica. “The trunk may have initially evolved to serve as a snorkel, allowing the animal to spend long periods under the water’s surface. In modern elephants, the trunk serves as an extra ‘arm and hand’ for gathering food that would otherwise be hard to reach,” says research published in Nebraska Public Media. The trunk is one of the elephant’s major anatomical differentiators. It is an extended nose fused with the top lip. At its end are prehensile (grasping ability) ‘fingers’, which curl around objects to pick them up. The African elephant has two ‘fingers’, whilst the Asian elephant only has one. The trunk is a boneless muscular hydrostat, which means that just like a human tongue, this organ is able to move despite lacking bones.
From pushing down trees to lifting an astounding 30,000 kg of weight, the trunk enables an elephant to perform immense feats of strength, including clearing patches of forest land. Astoundingly, an elephant trunk alone has up to 40,000 muscles, much more than a human’s overall 600. The trunk is also used to breathe, drink, feed, smell, trumpet, and socialise. It has been theorised that the earliest ancestor of the elephant evolved about 56 million years ago, in the Paleocene Epoch. Called ‘Moeritherium’, it existed until about 40 mya, and was the first to develop a snorkel-like small trunk.
Fast-forward about 20 mya, the evolution of the modern elephant came from a prehistoric elephant species known as Gomphotherium. Gomphotheria were widespread across Africa, Eurasia and North America during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, and dispersed into South America, during the Pleistocene, as part of the Great American Interchange. Mammalogists suggest that elephants evolved primarily in the Old World and migrated to North America over a period of time.
More than 160 extinct proboscidean species (mammals with traits such as trunk, tusks, and a large form) have been identified from fossil remains. These include Phiomia (the beginning of a trunk and tusks), Dinothere (with upside-down tusks growing downwards from its lower jaw), Platybelodon (with flat tusks in the lower jaw), Mammoth (with a shaggy coat), and Mastodon (with teeth up to 7.5-cm wide and 15-cm long).
The early elephants that arrived in North America and Eurasia, were primarily the mastodon and mammoth, respectively, and were the most recent ancestors of the modern elephant. Around 2.6 mya, as the climate and ecosystems began to change, the mammoths and mastodons suitably adapted to the inhospitable conditions. The Ice Age had dawned. These remarkable animals were used by humans as a source of meat and for fur in prehistoric times. Drastic climate change, habitat loss, and hunting by early humans led to their extinction about 10,000 years ago.
Significantly, the mammoth has been closely described as a direct predecessor of the modern elephant. Morphological phylogenetic analyses indicate that Elephas and Mammuthus were sister taxa to Loxodonta. These three elephants developed similar feeding morphologies in parallel, to imbibe specialised grazing. Also, Loxodonta, Elephas and Mammuthus originated in Africa during the Pliocene (about 3.4 mya). Loxodonta remained there, while Mammuthus moved to Eurasia, and the Elephas arrived in Asia. It is the Elephas’ direct descendant that we have today in the form of the Asian elephant.
A social animal
The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) survived, along with its African cousin, adapting to a varied climatic structure in Asia, and owing to its sociable character, learnt to co-exist with humans.
The Asian elephant is the largest land mammal in Asia, though smaller than the African elephant. Asian elephants are further classified into: Indian (Elephas maximus indicus), Sumatran (Elephas maximus sumatrensis), and Sri Lankan (Elephas maximus maximus). They inhabit a varied topography, and are extremely versatile at surviving extremes.
From dry to wet forest and grassland habitats in 13 range countries, spanning South and Southeast Asia, the Asian elephant is a familiar resident. While they prefer forage plants, these animals have adapted to surviving on resources that vary based on area.
“Asian elephants are extremely sociable, forming groups of six to seven related females that are led by the oldest female, the matriarch. Like African elephants, these groups occasionally join others to form larger herds, although these associations are relatively short-lived. In Asia, elephant herd sizes are significantly smaller than those of savanna elephants in Africa,” says WWF.
More than two-thirds of an Asian elephant’s day may be spent feeding on grass, but it also eats large amounts of bark, roots, leaves, and small stems. Owing to humans living in close proximity to its habitat corridors, cultivated crops and fruit also become viable sources of nourishment, often leading to conflict with man. In Asian countries, the elephant is a great cultural icon, with immense religious significance.
Elephants have survived and inspired for millions of years. Today, they stand endangered, from habitat loss, poaching for ivory, and big game hunting in certain African countries, but significant conservation efforts are yielding results. But more needs to be done to fix the proverbial elephant in the room.
Where they are different
African elephants have much larger ears that look sort of like the continent of Africa, while Asian elephants have smaller, round ears. Both elephants flap their ears to dissipate body heat
African elephants have rounded heads, while Asian elephants have a twin-domed head, which means there’s a divot line running up the head
Both male and female African elephants can have tusks, but only male Asian elephants can grow them. However, not all male Asian elephants nor all African elephants necessarily develop tusks
African savanna elephants are ~8,000 kg and are between 10 and 13 feet at the shoulder (African forest elephants are a bit smaller), while Asian elephants weigh ~5,500 kg and, at most, are 11.5 feet at the shoulder.
African elephants typically have four nails on each front foot, and three on each back foot, while Asian elephants have five nails on each front foot, and four on each back foot