Elephant

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Elephants are the largest still living land animals. With the birth a calf up to 100 kilograms weighs. The carrying time is with 20 to 22 months the longest for land mammals. They can become years old up to 70. The largest elephant was on 7 November 1974 in south Angola hunted bull with a weight of 12.240 kilograms.

Systematics

On the trunk animals live today only three kinds, which belong all to the genuine elephants. These are:

• African elephant (Loxodonta africana)
• Forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis)
• Asiatic elephant (Elephas maximus)

Besides that becomes from a kryptozoologisch interested minority of researchers and elephant-interested

• Dwarf elephant (Loxodonta pumilio)

as kind suggested; this is not however in the professional world accepted. It is to occur beside the forest elephant in the tropical rain forest (Gabon, the Congo, Cameroon).

The African elephant occurs in four separated populations: In the savannahs eastern and southern Africa, in west Africa, in the northern Namib (southwest Africa) and in the Central African tropical rain forest.

The status of the forest elephant as own kind applies by DNA studies today as occupied. From protection of species-legal view an acknowledgment is however problematic, since with awarding the kind status the ivory of the forest elephants is subject to no more trade embargo.

The remaining groups of the trunk animals, the giant, Mastodonten and Deinotherien, became extinct. All today still living trunk animals are strongly in their existence endangered, since their habitat shrinks and was hunted it into the recent time steadily because of their consisting of the valuable material ivory.

Spreading

The circulation area of the asiatic elephant extends today over the entire front and Hinterindien, Ceylon as well as some the large Sundainseln. In former times also far parts of China belonged to this area.

The African elephant lived in former times on the entire African continent, today is the northernmost border of its circulation areas in the south of the Sudan. It is far in the entire southern Africa spread, however only in the protected zones the national park; there the existence became larger by different preventive measures, in particular by the world-wide prohibition of the ivory trade, so strongly that the "“load-carrying capacity"” of these areas was exceeded clearly. For instance in the Chobe national park in Botswana becomes particularly clear: Instead of the nature-compatibly possible 5,000 elephants live here in the meantime over 25.000 animals.

The forest elephant lives in the rain forests of west Africa, among other things in Cameroon, the democratic Republic of the Congo or the Central African republic.

Master history of the elephants

The earliest trunk animals (Proboscidae) originate from the before approximately 50 million years. Moeritherium was about as large as a Tapir and possessed a pig-similar head with an extended nose upper lip as well as easily extended in the upper and lower jaw. Apart from elephant characteristics the head carried also common characteristics with that of the sea-cows. Beside these the Schliefer, small marble-animal-similar mammals with hooves, is probably the next the related elephants.

From an early splitting off the Deinotherien, also for Dinotherien mentioned, developed whose fossils were found also in Germany and Austria. With these animals the were in the lower jaw and were downward curved. They probably served as grave tools in swampy forests. Deinotherien became large up to 3,60 m and became extinct in Europe in the middle (Piacenzium), in Africa in the lower before approximately one million years.

First Mastodonten emerged approximately 30 million years ago, the oldest form was the Palaeomastodon. It possessed a trunk from extended nose and Oberlippe as well as short The Mastodonten spread in the process of the following 25 million years over the entire earth with exception of Australia. Well-known Mastodonarten is the animals of the kinds Gomphotherium, Stegodon and giant (not to confound with the later giant of the kind Mammuthus, in former times Mammontheus). The last Mastodonten lived at the same time with giant and became extinct toward end of the last ice age in the upper

The line of development to the genuine elephants in such a way specified began approximately 12 million years ago by the Primelephas (after other sources by Stegolophodon). This had like the other Mastodonten four besides in addition, a set of characteristics of the later genuine elephants as for instance the chewing surfaces of the molars, which make the food possible of grass.

Approximately two million years ago the earth of a large kind abundance of the Deinotherien, which settles Mastodonten and the genuine elephants (old elephants, became). Particularly on the islands of Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean were also proper dwarf elephants with a of approximately a meter.

The most well-known fossil elephants are certainly the giant (Mammuthus and/or Mammonteus). They decrease/go back with the today still living kinds of elephant in a common master kind, which is to be found under the steppe elephants. At the beginning of the last ice age the ancestors of the today's elephants moved after the south into warmer areas, while the giant adapted to the colder climate. At the beginning of the ice age the steppe giant Mammuthus (=Mammonteus) lived trogontherii, which was replaced later by the cold steppe or woolly hair giant Mammuthus (=Mammonteus) primigenius. This is called colloquially also genuine giant. The giant was closely behaart and had up to three meters for a long time, curved as well as very small ears. It probably used the for digging and rooting in the frozen soil. With approximately three meters was about as large it as the today living African elephant. Parts of giant are found still frequent also today in the Siberian permafrost soil. It concerns particularly bones and hair, is occasional however also amazingly well received giant in the ice. Giant ivory was used from age particularly in China and Russia to the Elfenbeinschnitzerei. Humans in the late hunted the animals, and according to different theories they were possibly responsible for becoming extinct the last giant. Alternative theories proceed from a succession many heavy winters and food scarceness. The last giant probably lived before approximately 10,000 years in Siberia.

Today only three kinds of elephant on earth live. It concerns mainly the asiatic or Indian elephant occurring in India and Ceylon (Elephas maximus) as well as its African cousins, the African elephant (Loxodonta africana) and the forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis). The status of the forest elephant as independent kind was for a long time disputed and still is also today occasionally doubted.