|
Home |
Day 5 - 8 | Day 9 - 12 | Day 13 - 17 | Day 18 - 21 | Trophy Room | Hunting Links | About Author |
Diary of an Africa Safari in Zambia, by Mr. Leslie E. Tassell
|
Home |
Day 5 - 8 | Day 9 - 12 | Day 13 - 17 | Day 18 - 21 | Trophy Room | Hunting Links | About Author |
Diary of an Africa Safari in Zambia, by Mr. Leslie E. Tassell
The two surviving species of the order Proboscidea: the Asian elephant, Elephas maximus and the African, Loxodonta africana elephant. Elephants can grow to 13ft/4m and weigh up to 8 tons; they have a thick, gray wrinkled skin, a large head, and long trunk used to obtain food and water, and upper incisors or tusks, which grow to a considerable length. The African elephant has very large ears and a flattened forehead, and the Asian species has smaller ears and a convex forehead. In India, Myanmar (Burma), and Thailand, Asiatic elephants are widely used for transport and logging.
Elephants are herbivorous, highly intelligent, and extremely social, living in matriarchal herds. The period of gestation is about 19 - 22 months (the longest among mammals), and the life span is about 60 - 70 years. Elephants have one of the lowest metabolic rates among placental mammals.
In Africa there were 1.3 million elephants in 1981; fewer than 700,000 in 1988 and about 600,000 in 1990. They were placed on the list of endangered species in 1989, and a world ban on trade in ivory was imposed.
|
Home |
Day 5 - 8 | Day 9 - 12 | Day 13 - 17 | Day 18 - 21 | Trophy Room | Hunting Links | About Author |