OUR FAVOURITE ANIMAL OF THE WEEK: AFRICAN ELEPHANT

THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT - Gardeners of the Savannah

The African Elephant is the largest land mammal and perhaps the continent's most charismatic creature. Few animals are as closely linked to the welfare of mankind - for elephants have the potential to greatly modify the vegetation of landscapes, destroy the crops of subsistence farmers as well as create wealth through their valuable ivory tusks. There is little doubt that elephants have played a vital role in the economic history of the continent.

  Important Statistics

There are two sub-species of African elephant

The (or bush) form

The forest (or dwarf) form.

Male elephants (bulls) are far larger than females (cows) and weigh up to 6300kg. Mature females range between 2000 and 3500kg. There is much less sexual dimorphism among forest elephants which range between 900 and 3500kg in weight.

The longest tusks on record for a elephant are 3.5 metres, at a weight of 130kg! Forest elephants are often tusk less. The two forms interbreed where forest and ecosystems meet. Elephants have four toes on their front feet,and three on their hind feet. Their thick hide sports sparse bristles and sensory hairs.

 The male's penis is invisible when retracted but extends for up to a metre when erect; his testicles are internal. The two teats are situated high on the underside, between the forelegs.

Born to Eat

Elephants feed for up to 16 hours each day and consume a huge amount of plant material. Individuals eat up to 300 kilograms of leaves, grass, bark, pods and roots per day. Over half of the food consumed is not properly digested and is deposited as fibrous dung within 24 hours. In this way, elephants break down and consume plant material, but also promote regeneration through seed dispersal, soil fertilization and the "opening-up" of previously shaded areas to the light. Along with the minuscule but equally crucial termites, elephants are the "landscape gardeners of Africa".

 Although elephants may appear to be indiscriminate feeders, they are, in fact, very selective and favor particular plants at certain times of the year.

In general, elephants eat a higher percentage of grass during the wet season, with foliage, roots and bark predominating in the dry months. The tusks and trunk are used to good effect when feeding, the former as stripping and excavating tools, and the latter as a prehensile grasper.

Elephant Society

It is most unusual to see an elephant alone. Mature females and their offspring (up to 14 years in the case of males) live in so-called breeding herds which have intimate knowledge of a home range in which they may move randomly, or in synch with the seasons. Adult males - and "teenagers" of 12 and older - typically range in pairs, threesomes or groups of a dozen or more. The main purpose of living in groups for these long-lived pachyderms may be to pass on individual experience and knowledge (where the best feeding areas are at certain times of the year, for example), as well as to defend the newborn young. A single mother elephant is quite capable of defending her young 120kg calf from a lone lion or hyena, but these super-predators hunt in groups and would have little difficulty in seizing newborns which were not protected within a herd. Elephants can live up to 60 years, with females surviving long past their reproductive age.

The old matriarchs make decisions on a daily basis as to where the herd will forage or move. Adult cows give birth to a single youngster (twins are a rare phenomenon) after a gestation period of 650-660 days, once every four or five years. She comes on heat again soon after weaning her calf at four years (although young can eat "solids" after two years), and is sexually receptive for only about a week. Male suitors are typically in a state of musth - a condition of high testosterone levels characterized by leaking temporal glands and dribbling urine - and often intimidate other bulls with their head held high and swaggering gait.

 Only if two musth bulls come together will a physical fight ensue. Mating - when it eventually happens - is extremely brief. Contrary to popular thought, copulation takes place on dry land, not in deep water.

Communication

Elephants "talk" to one another through various growls, snorts, squeals, trumpets and rumbles which convey a host of emotions and signals.

 Sub-sonic infra sound - inaudible to the human ear - was discovered only in 1987 and may be the most important means of communication.