Preliminary evidence strongly suggests that genetically there are two distinct sub species of African elephants.
Loxadonta Africana Africana or the African Savanna elephant is the largest animal on earth growing up to 4 metres tall and weighing in at as much as 7,500 kg. The savannah elephant is an imposing animal with large ears. They also have the largest tusks of all the elephants and both males and females bear tusks.
One of the key differences between African savanna and forest elephants other than size is a difference in the number of nails on each foot. The Savanna has three nails on the hind feet and four nails on the front feet while the forest elephant has five nails on the front and and four nails on the back.
As its name suggests the savanna elephant lives and dominates the wide open plains of Africa.
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Elephant Species
It is commonly assumed that there are two species of elephant, African and Asian but over the past 25 years as scientists have learned more about elephant genetics they have begun to separate the two into distinct sub species.
African Elephants | |||
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Asian Elephants | |||
The Asian elepahnt, Elephas Maximus is found across 13 range countries on both the Asian mainland and a number of islands. Asian elephants differ from Africans in a number of ways. The Asian elephant is divided into 4 sub species. Elephas Maximus Indicus is sometimes mistakenly called the Indian elephant but as it is found across continental Asia as far as China and Vietnam it should be correctly termed, the Asian elephant. Asian elephants are smaller than Africans with noticeably smaller ears. Only some male elephants have tusks. Females sometimes has small tushes. Elephas maximus maximus or the Sri Lankan elephant is the largest of the Asian elephants. However Sri Lankan bulls appear less predisposed to growing tusks. The energy saved not growing tusks may have contributed to a general increase in size. Elephas maximus maximus is only found on the island of Sri Lanka. More information about elephants in Sri Lanka Elephas maximus sumatranus or the Sumatran elephant is only found on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is the second smallest of the Asian elephants. More information about elephants in Indonesia Elephas maximus borneensis or the Borneo elephant was only classified as a separate sub species in 2003 after test revealed differences in the genetic make up from mainland elephants. The Borneo elephant is the smallest of the sub species and sometimes referred to as a pygmy elephant. These elephants are only found on the island of Borneo which is shared between Indonesia, Malaysia and the tiny Kingdom of Brunei. |
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The Taxonomy of Elephants
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