Preview

African Elephant Research Paper

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1967 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
African Elephant Research Paper
There are two types of elephant, the Asian elephant and the African elephant (although There are two types of elephant, the Asian elephant and the African elephant (although sometimes the African Elephant is split into two species, the African Forest Elephant and the African Bush Elephant).
Elephants are the largest land-living mammal in the world.
Both female and male African elephants have tusks but only the male Asian elephants have tusks. They use their tusks for digging and finding food.
Female elephants are called cows. They start to have calves when they are about 12 years old and they are pregnant for 22 months.
An elephant can use its tusks to dig for ground water. An adult elephant needs to drink around 210 litres of water a day.
…show more content…
Elephants use their trunk for smelling, breathing, detecting vibrations, caressing their young, sucking up water, and grasping objects. The tip of their trunk is comprised of two opposable extensions, or fingers, which allow for extreme dexterity.

Both male and female elephants possess tusks, which are modified incisor teeth. Although tusks are present at birth, the “baby tusks” fall out after a year, and permanent ones replace them. These tusks will continue to grow throughout the elephant’s life. Similar to the trunk, elephant tusks are utilized in a wide range of activities. They are used for digging, foraging, and fighting. At times, they also act as a resting place for the elephant’s very heavy trunk.

An African elephant’s large ears also serve many purposes. The ears’ large surface area helps radiate excess heat under the harsh African sun. The ears are also often used to communicate visually. Flapping their ears can signify either aggression or joy. And finally, elephants’ ears, used in conjunction with the soles of their feet and their trunk, aid in the ability to hear sounds over long distances. On average, an elephant can hear another elephant’s call at 4 km (2.5 mi.) away. Under ideal conditions, their range of hearing can be increased to 10 km (6.2
…show more content…
One way is to participate in eco-tourism. Boosting Africa’s economy through eco-tourism helps placate local residents who view elephants as pests.

The illegal ivory trade has skyrocketed in recent years. Decreasing the demand for ivory is essential. Never buy, sell, or wear ivory. Write to your politicians to speak out against poaching. (Americans can write a letter to the Secretary of State on the Wildlife Conservation Society website.) For information on organizations that combat the illegal ivory trade, see National Geographic’s page, Blood Ivory: How to Help.

In addition, you can help provide captive elephants with the best possibly life. Boycott circuses, whose unethical treatment includes chaining elephants up by their feet and trunks, as well as beating them frequently. Encourage zoos to create environments similar to African elephants’ native habitat. They should be able to encompass elephant families and their travel patterns, and they should be located in a warm climate so that the elephants can spend all year outside.

African Elephant Distribution
African elephants inhabit various ecosystems in sub-Saharan Africa.
African elephants inhabit various ecosystems in sub-Saharan

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    As Martin Buber once said, “an animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language”. As the years go by, numerous animals are becoming extinct by man’s lack of compassion. They used to roam freely, without fear, in the wild, although; with rising population, the wilderness is no longer their home. Therefore, the animals are forced to share their land with uncompassionate humans. One example is the Borneo Pygmy Elephant found in Southeast Asia. Their thriving population has diminished to less than 1,500 in the past years. An analysis of the endangered Borneo Pygmy Elephant shows their characteristics and habitat, what is threatening them, and how they can be saved.…

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Elephant Helping Trunk

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Elephants are intelligent, gifted, and exquisite mammals that can figure out tasks by themselves or cooperatively. In the article “Elephants Can Lend a Helping Trunk”, the passage “Elephants Know When They Need a Helping Trunk in a Cooperative Task”, and the video “Elephants Show Cooperation”, the sources all argue that elephants are very shrewd animals that are capable of completing tasks. All of the sources say that elephants are considered to be cooperative, clever, prudent, and more.…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The manatees and elephants are mammals.They give birth to live babies, called calves. Their teeth are flat to help them chew grasses they eat. When their teeth fall out new teeth grow back. The manatee’s nose is like a short elephant trunk, and they both used the trunk by picking up food. They have thick and strong skin and hair covering their body.…

    • 232 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Use of elephants as war animals has been dated back to as early as 331 BC by the Persians. King Darius the 111 of Persia was the first to use elephants in the battle of Guagamela, against Alexander the Great of Mecedon. Kind Darius' army consisted of 15 well trained Indian elephants which was used to frighten the opposition. War elephants were used in elephantry which involves a parade of elephants with military troops mounted on top. These elephants were used to charge at the enemy, separate their forces and inculcate a sense of fear in them. The many different attributes possessed by elephants made them useful in battles. Firstly Male elephants were used in the battlefield due to their aggressive nature. Female elephants were used for other purposes such as transportation and carrying of heavy loads. The massive…

    • 441 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    I agree with Medhurt’s Interpretive Perspective it makes the most sense to me. I agree with his allegory and the significance the elephant represents in the story. Though both Sparks and Medhurst share this view. I feel because advertising is geared towards the immediate instinctive reactions. The elephant does not want to be “big†or unacceptable and would…

    • 893 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Bio principles NC Zoo

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Answer: African elephant’s ears also serve as a form of communication by using them for signaling, and for regulating body temperature.…

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Answer: The African elephant uses its ears as signaling organs. Ears are also used to regulate body temperature and are used as a protective feature in the African elephant to ward off potential threats.…

    • 913 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life on Earth Worksheet

    • 1184 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Background: There are three extant species of elephant: Elaphas maximus (Asian elephants), Loxodonta africana (African elephants), and Loxodonta cyclotis (African forest elephants). Their taxonomic hierarchy is as follows:…

    • 1184 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Crucible

    • 5728 Words
    • 23 Pages

    Male elephants live with their mothers until they are about eight to sixteen years old. The older a male becomes, the more independent he becomes from his mother and the herd. He will do this by straying away from the herd for progressively longer periods, and will often join other bachelors in…

    • 5728 Words
    • 23 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Controversy About Zoos

    • 1869 Words
    • 8 Pages

    An example of these captive animals and the way they live are the Elephants, the ones that are captive at zoos, require special attention to their feet. Even now, foot care is an important factor in zoos. Sadly, even though elephant keepers try their best to maintain their feet clean, elephants still continue to have feet problems. Surprisingly,…

    • 1869 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    who belongs in the zoo

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Standing alone in a small enclosure, a 21-year-old Asian bull elephant named Billy seems oblivious to the two dozen schoolchildren who press against a chain-link fence to get a closer look. He bobs his massive head up and down and moves his weight from one side to the other. His trunk reaches toward a blue plastic toy that is there for him to play with. Billy lumbers over to another part of the yard--his massive gray body, wrinkled skin and fanlike ears, looking irresistible. Some of the kids have never been this close to a real, live elephant, and they think he's cool!…

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Their massive, muscular trunks are used like arms and to do things like, drink water, bathe, pick berries, fight, break tree branches, and even to communicate. Unlike the Asian elephant, which only has one, the African elephant has two finger-like structures at the tip of their trunk. Both male and female African elephants have giant, ivory tusks, a third of which are not visible because it’s inside their skull. The elephant’s ears are used for many things as well, such as, displaying signals like anger and when they flap their ears it circulates the blood and returns it to the body about 9º F cooler. The cushiony padding on the bottom of their feet helps to sustain weight, prevent slipping, and deaden sound. When they need to, elephants can walk almost…

    • 578 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Causes Of Musth

    • 147 Words
    • 1 Page

    Musth is a naturally occuring period of change for a bull elephant, they produce 40 to 60 times more testosterone than usual and are extremely aggressive. Although musth is more common in Asian elephants it also occurs to elephant bulls in Africa. A male elephant is likely to experience musth for the first time at age of 30, it’s more dangerous in older elephants than the younger ones. The physical symptoms include swollen temple, swollen trunk base, an oily liquid coming out of temple glands, sweat and dripping urine. There are also mental symptoms such as autistic behaviour, aggressive outbursts and not reacting to familiar commands of the keeper. Additionally, this stage in the animal’s life can last for weeks or months. An elephant…

    • 147 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Abnormal Behavior

    • 2249 Words
    • 9 Pages

    This head bobbing behaviour is not an normal behaviour in which the elephant would carry out on a daily basis in the wild as they would be in their natural habitat. You can manage this abnormal behaviour in many different ways such as trying to enrich the elephants enclosure with items and food which would stimulate the elephants mind and try to take their mind of whatever the situation is that they are trying to cope with. Captive wild elephants can be given toys and some other object which they might not come across in their natural habitat, this is called novel enrichment. Any type of enrichment can be beneficial to an wild animal that is in a captive environment. Novel enrichment is a good type of enrichment for this elephant that uses head bobbing as a coping mechanism as it will attract her to use their time to do something that is more fun for them and will let them use their mind to show that it can be used for something other than carrying out zoonotic behaviours. These objects that are added into the elephants enclosure can be in the shape of many different items but by the keeper adding them they have benefited the elephants mind and tried to manage and control the elephants behaviours showing a great start on a full treatment plan on helping the elephant get on a more stable ground of thinking and maybe not expressing…

    • 2249 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Some time ago The Times of India explained: “Unlike African elephants, only males among the Asian pachyderms, and just a few of them, have tusks. So adult tuskers are the main targets. According to the official figures, about a hundred [males] are killed each year in India, leaving the male-female ratio skewed.” Such killings have threatened the very existence of this species.…

    • 1251 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays