African Bush Elephant - Video Learning

The larger of the two African elephant species is the "African bush elephant."Show more

It and the African forest elephant were historically classified as a single species, commonly known as "African elephant," but new research has led to the forest elephant being classified as a different species. Some experts believe that the evidence currently available is inadequate to divide African elephants into two species.

The African bush elephant, standing up to 4 meters tall at the waist, is the world's largest and heaviest land mammal. Males stand 3.3 m tall at the shoulder and weigh 5.5 tonnes on average, while females stand 2.8 m tall and weigh 3.7 tonnes. African elephants are distinguished by their large paws, which they use to dissipate excess heat, and their trunk, which includes a nose and an extension of the upper lip with two opposing extensions, or "fingers," at the end. The trunk serves as a means of contact as well as for the handling of items and food. African elephants have larger tusks, which are large modified incisors that grow around 7 inches per year over their lives.

Both males and females have them, and they're used in fights, as well as for marking, eating, and digging.

The African bush elephant eats only plants. Elephants in forests, partial deserts, and grasslands all consume varying proportions of herbs and tree or shrubbery leaves depending on their environment. Elephants have been observed consuming aquatic plant life along the shores of Lake Kariba. The African bush elephant has four large molars, two in each mandible of the jaw, that help it break down the plants it eats. These molars are each 10 cm wide and 30 cm long.