The elephant is the two surviving species of the order proboscidea, the African elephant (Loxodonta) and the Asian elephant (Elephas) which are both very similar, except that the African elephant is generally slightly larger and has very large ears. The African elephant also differs from the Asian elephant in having a roughened trunk with two processes instead of one at the end, three rather than four nails on the hind foot, coarser molars with thicker enamel, a more convex forehead and relatively larger eyes.
Behaviourally the two species are very similar, except that the African elephant generally sleeps standing up. Perhaps the most striking feature of the elephants is the long prehensile trunk formed from the nose and upper lip. The trunk contains nasal passages and nostrils at the tip. Elephants are gregarious animals, travelling in herds of up to 100 animals, and inhabiting forests and grassy plains where they eat only plant matter, the African elephant rarely eating grass but preferring leaves, fruit and the inner bark of some trees. Elephants start breeding when about 15 or twenty years old, but are not fully grown until they are 25 and live to about 50 years of age. The gestation period is 20 months, and a single young or very rarely twins, is born with a cow giving birth to four or five young during her life. Research Elephant
Abbreviations
Nature
Research Elephant