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Elephant

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37 views4 pages

Elephant

Uploaded by

marY MCH
Copyright
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Elephant

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


This article is about a paraphyletic group. For close extinct relatives,
see Elephantidae. For other uses, see Elephant (disambiguation).

Elephants

Temporal range: Late Miocene –


Present

PreꞒ

Pg

N
A female African bush
elephant in Mikumi National
Park, Tanzania

Scientific classification

Domain: Eukaryota

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Proboscidea

Superfamily Elephantoid
: ea

Family: Elephantida
e

Groups included

 Loxodonta Anon
ymous, 1827
 Elephas Linnaeus
, 1758
 †Palaeoloxodon
Matsumoto, 1925

Distribution of living elephant


species

Cladistically included but


traditionally excluded taxa
 †Mammuthus Br
ookes, 1828

Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently
recognised: the African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana), the African forest
elephant (L. cyclotis), and the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). They are the
only surviving members of the family Elephantidae and the order Proboscidea;
extinct relatives include mammoths and mastodons. Distinctive features of
elephants include a long proboscis called a trunk, tusks, large ear flaps, pillar-like
legs, and tough but sensitive grey skin. The trunk is prehensile, bringing food and
water to the mouth and grasping objects. Tusks, which are derived from the incisor
teeth, serve both as weapons and as tools for moving objects and digging. The
large ear flaps assist in maintaining a constant body temperature as well as in
communication. African elephants have larger ears and concave backs, whereas
Asian elephants have smaller ears and convex or level backs.

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