The elephant shoulder is about 2 meters high and weighs 3 ~ 7 tons. Big head, big ears like a fan. The limbs are as thick as a cylinder, supporting a huge body, and the knee joint cannot flex freely. The length of the nose is almost equal to the body length, and it is cylindrical, extending and bending freely; The nostril is open at the end, and the tip of the nose has finger-like protrusions, which can pick up fine things. The maxilla has 1 pair of developed incisors, which grow for life. The incisors of African elephants can be as long as 3.3 meters, and the female tusks of Asian elephants are not exposed; There are six buccal teeth on each side of the upper and lower jaws, which grow from front to back in turn, with high crown and complex structure. There are 5 toes on each foot, but the 1 and 5 toes are hypoplastic. The coat is sparse and the body color is light grayish brown. Male elephant testicles are hidden in abdominal cavity; Female elephants have two nipples behind their front legs, and their pregnancy lasts for more than 600 days, usually per fetus 1 litter. African elephants have two finger-like protrusions at the end of their long noses, while Asian elephants only have 1; African elephants have big ears and large bodies, while Asian elephants have small ears, smaller bodies and lighter weights.
Elephants inhabit a variety of habitats, especially jungles, grasslands and river valleys. Living in groups, males occasionally live alone. Feeding on plants, the food intake is huge, with a daily food intake of more than 225 kilograms. Life expectancy is about 80 years. Some elephants have been domesticated by human beings and regarded as domestic animals, which can be used for riding or labor. Ivory has always been used as a valuable carving material, which is expensive, so elephants have been wantonly caught and the number has dropped sharply.
The modern elephant evolved from the ancestor elephant. According to the fossil discovery, the Eocene ancestor elephant only had a long snout and a small body. From the ancestor elephant to the modern elephant.
African elephant
Distributed in central, eastern and southern Africa.
African elephant lives in tropical forests, jungles and grasslands from sea level to 5000 meters above sea level. It is the largest terrestrial mammal in existence. Live in groups, led by a male elephant, daily, no settlement. Feed on weeds, leaves, bark, twigs, etc.
The reproductive period is not fixed, the pregnancy period is about 22 months, and it is sexually mature at the age of 1 offspring,13-14, with a life span of 60-70 years. Beijing zoo 1954 began to raise and exhibit.
Be listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
African elephant is the largest living terrestrial mammal, with a body length of 6-7.5m, a tail length of1-1.3m, a shoulder height of 3-4m and a weight of 5-7.5t.. The highest record is a male, with total body length10.67m, forefoot circumference10.8m and weight1/0/0.75t.. The largest ivory record is 350 cm long and weighs about 107 kg.
Asian Elephant
Scientific name: Elephas maximus
English name: Indian elephant
Distributed in the south of Yunnan Province, China. Foreign countries are found in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
Asian elephants (also known as elephants) live in tropical forests, jungles or grasslands. Live in groups, led by a female elephant, have no fixed habitat and are diurnal. Smell, hearing sensitive, poor vision, like water bath when hot. In the morning and dusk, they feed on weeds, leaves, bamboo leaves and wild fruits.
The reproductive period is not fixed, the pregnancy period is 20-22 months, and it is sexually mature at the age of 9-1 offspring and has a life span of 60-70 years. Beijing Zoo 195 1 year breeding exhibition, 1964 breeding success.
China-class protected animals are listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
There used to be 6 families of proboscis, of which 5 families were extinct, and only 2 genera and 2 species of animals were found in Euonymidae 1 family. As the name suggests, this animal has a long nose with finger-like processes at the end, which can pick up small things. Elephantidae includes 2 genera and 2 species of animals, namely Asian elephants and African elephants. Elephant is the largest terrestrial mammal in existence, with developed sense of smell and hearing and poor vision. The long nose plays the role of arms and fingers, and can take in water and food and send them to the mouth. The huge auricle not only helps listening, but also has heat dissipation function. The long tusks of males (both male and female African elephants) are specialized maxillary incisors. Asian elephants have five fingers on their forelimbs, four toes on their hind limbs and three toes on their forelimbs in Africa.
Elephants are gregarious animals, with the family as the unit and the female elephant as the leader. The daily activity time, action route, foraging place and habitat are all under the command of the female elephant. The adult male elephant only bears the responsibility of protecting family security. Sometimes several elephant groups gather to form hundreds of large groups.
An elephant named "Zhongni" in Perm Zoo, Russia 18 celebrated its 40th birthday, thus becoming the longest-lived elephant kept by zoos or circuses in the world.
Among mammals, the longest-lived animal is the elephant. It is said that it can live 60 to 70 years old. Of course, wild places are different from artificial breeding, and the life span of the former is shorter. According to records, the longevity elephants in the Golpagos Islands can live from 180 to 200 years.