African bush elephant

Jumbo and Tonga in Vienna Zoo. (Photo © Jutta Kirchner, Vienna Zoo)

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Right upper third molar from a Savanna Elephant. Photo: © Hans Olof Furberg, Hola Folkhögskola

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The African elephant is still under threat in some parts of africa, while its starting to become overpopulated in southern africa.

The African bush elephant was a subspecies - (Loxodonta africana africana) - to the African elephant (Loxodonta africana) but hs since been upgraded to a species on its own. The bush elephant is sometimes refered to as the savanna elephant, and belong to the family of elephants

Characteristics

• The neck is high, and then sloping down again
• The skin is very wrenkled all over
• Ears are large, looks like african continent
• Head is flat, with nu bumps
• Forehead is flat and sloaping down
• The underlip is short, broad and rounded
• Both sexes wear tusks
• Tusks are thick and curved forward
• 21 pairs of ribs
• The frontfeet has four nails, the hindfeet three
      (not the African forest elephant)
• The trunktip has two prehensile protrusions

Anatomy

• Height up to 4 meter
• Weight to 7,500 kg (bulls) 3,500 kg (female)
• Trunk weights up to 140 kg
• Skin is up to 2.5 cm thick
• Brain weights upto 6 kg
• Tusk weight up to 50 kg

Protection

30 African savanna elephant in taxidermy collections