The characteristic signs of the detachment are proboscis. Proboscis squad (proboscidea) Proboscis number of species

Proboscidea (lat. Proboscidea) - a detachment of placental mammals, owe their name to their main distinguishing feature - the trunk. The only representatives of proboscis today are the elephant family (Elephantidae). Extinct proboscis families include mastodons (Mammutidae).

Proboscis are distinguished not only by their trunk, but also by their unique tusks, as well as the largest size among all mammals on land. These peculiarities are by no means a hindrance, but, on the contrary, highly specialized adaptations. Once upon a time, many proboscis families lived on earth, some of which had four tusks. Today there is only a family of elephants in a very limited living space.

Proboscis formations were barely noticeable at the beginning and served proboscis ancestors living in swamps as a means to breathe underwater. Later, the trunks, with their many muscles, developed into finely sensitive grasping organs, which made it possible to pick both leaves from trees and grass in the steppes. Tusks during evolution reached 4 meters and had various shapes.

The African and Indian elephant are all that remain today from their many ancestors.

Head African elephant in profile it looks sloping, in the form of a clearly defined angle; the ridge rises from the head to the shoulder blades, then drops and rises again to the hips.

The Indian elephant has pronounced brow ridges and a convex bump on the top of the head with a cleft in the middle; the back in the middle is higher than in the area of ​​the shoulder blades and hips.

Indian elephant

A powerful, massive animal, with a large broad-browed head, short neck, powerful body and columnar legs. The Indian elephant is smaller than the African counterpart. Its mass does not exceed 5 tons, and the height at the shoulders is 2.5-3 m. Unlike the African elephant, only males have tusks, but they are also 2-3 times shorter than the tusks of an African relative. The ears of the Indian elephant are smaller, stretched down and pointed.

Wild Indian elephants live in India, Pakistan, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Malacca, Sumatra and Sri Lanka. Due to the expansion of plantations and crops, the number of wild elephants is declining. Animals are killed as pests Agriculture despite the ban. The Indian elephant, like the African one, is listed in the IUCN Red List.

The Indian elephant lives in forest thickets, usually keeps in family groups of 10-20 animals, sometimes there are herds of up to 100 or more individuals. The leader of the herd is usually an old female.

Unlike the African relative, the Indian elephant is easily tamed and easy to train. In hard-to-reach swampy places, elephants are used as riding animals. Four people can fit on the back of an animal in a gazebo, not counting the driver sitting on the neck of an elephant. Elephants are able to carry up to 350 kg of cargo. Trained elephants not only carry logs in logging sites, but also stack them in a certain order, load and unload barges. Indian elephants are bought by zoos and circuses around the world.

Indian elephants are inferior in size to African bush elephants, but their size is also impressive - old individuals (males) reach a weight of 5.4 tons with a height of 2.5 - 3.5 meters. Females are smaller than males, weighing an average of 2.7 tons. The smallest is a subspecies from Kalimantan (weight about 2 tons). By comparison, African bush elephant weighs from 4 to 7 tons. The body length of the Indian elephant is 5.5-6.4 m, the tail is 1.2-1.5 m. The Indian elephant is more massive than the African. The legs are thick and comparatively short; the structure of the soles of the feet resembles that of an African elephant - there is a special springy mass under the skin. There are five hooves on the front legs, four on the hind legs. The body is covered with thick wrinkled skin; skin color - from dark gray to brown. The thickness of the skin of an Indian elephant reaches 2.5 cm, but is very thin on inside ears, around the mouth and anus. The skin is dry and has no sweat glands, so caring for it is an important part of an elephant's life. Taking mud baths, elephants protect themselves from insect bites, sunburn and fluid loss. Dust baths, bathing and scratching on trees also play a role in skin hygiene. Often, depigmented pinkish areas are noticeable on the body of the Indian elephant, which give them a mottled appearance. Newborn baby elephants are covered with brownish hair, which is wiped off and thins with age, but even adult Indian elephants are more covered with coarse wool than African ones.

Albinos are very rare among elephants and are to a certain extent the object of worship in Siam. Usually they are only a little lighter and have a few even lighter spots. The best specimens were pale reddish-brown in color with a pale yellow iris and sparse white hair on the back.

The broad forehead, depressed in the middle and strongly convex laterally, has an almost vertical position; its bumps represent highest point body (an African elephant has shoulders). The most characteristic feature that distinguishes the Indian elephant from the African is the relatively smaller size of the auricles. The ears of the Indian elephant never rise above the level of the neck. They are medium in size, irregularly quadrangular in shape, with several elongated tip and an inward-turned top edge. The tusks (elongated upper incisors) are significantly, 2-3 times smaller than those of the African elephant, up to 1.6 m long, weighing up to 20-25 kg. During the year of growth, the tusk increases by an average of 17 cm. They develop only in males, rarely in females. Among Indian elephants there are males without tusks, which in India are called makhna (makhna). Especially often such males are found in the north-eastern part of the country; the largest number tuskless elephants have a population in Sri Lanka (up to 95%)

Just as people are right-handed and left-handed, different elephants are more likely to use the right or left tusk. This is determined by the degree of wear of the tusk and its more rounded tip.

In addition to the tusks, the elephant has 4 molars, which are replaced several times during life as they wear out. When changing, new teeth do not grow under the old ones, but further on the jaw, gradually pushing the worn teeth forward. In the Indian elephant, the molars change 6 times during their life; the latter erupt by about 40 years. When the last teeth are worn down, the elephant loses the ability to eat normally and dies of starvation. As a rule, this happens by the age of 70.

The elephant's trunk is a long process formed by the nose and upper lip fused together. A complex system of muscles and tendons gives it great flexibility and mobility, allowing the elephant to manipulate even small objects, and its volume allows it to collect up to 6 liters of water. The septum (septum), which separates the nasal cavity, also consists of numerous muscles. An elephant's trunk is devoid of bones and cartilage; the only cartilage is at its end, separating the nostrils. Unlike the African elephant, the trunk ends in a single dorsal finger-like process.

The differences between the Indian elephant and the African are a lighter color, medium-sized tusks that are available only in males, small ears, a convex humpbacked back without a "saddle", two bulges on the forehead and a single finger-like process at the end of the trunk. To the differences in internal structure 19 pairs of ribs are also included instead of 21, as in the African elephant, and structural features of the molars - the transverse plates of dentin in each tooth of the Indian elephant are from 6 to 27, which is more than that of the African elephant. There are 33 tail vertebrae instead of 26. The heart often has a double apex. Females can be distinguished from males by the two mammary glands located on the chest. The elephant's brain is the largest among land animals and reaches a weight of 5 kg.

Squad characteristics. Proboscidea are large mammals. They got their name because of the trunk, formed from the fusion of an elongated nose and upper lip.

Elephants. There are two types of elephants: African and Asian. The African elephant is larger than the Asian one, has a height of 3.5 m and weighs more than 5 tons. Elephants are the largest of all land animals, they live in tropical forests: African - in Central Africa, and Asian - in India and on the islands of Ceylon and Sumatra. Each of the five toes of the massive columnar foot of an elephant is dressed in a thin horny hoof. The main weight of the Body falls on a firm and at the same time elastic pillow located under the hand and under the foot. Thanks to this, the elephant moves quickly and silently, despite the bulkiness of the body. It is almost completely devoid of hair: thick skin protects the elephant from the bites of blood-sucking insects.

The elephant's trunk has great flexibility and strength. The nostrils are placed at the end of the trunk, and a fleshy and sensitive finger-like outgrowth is also located there. With a short, sedentary neck and a massive head, the value long trunk in the life of an elephant is huge: with a trunk, he gets food and water. An elephant detects small objects with a finger-like outgrowth of the trunk.

An elephant has tusks in its upper jaw, but none in its lower jaw. Tusks are modified and constantly growing incisors. With them, the elephant rips off the bark, and, if necessary, digs the ground. The African elephant's tusks reach a length of 2 m and a weight of about 80 kg. They are present in both males and females. At Asian elephant tusks are found only in males. From a very dense substance of the tusks - "ivory" beautiful art products are cut out. For the sake of these tusks, elephants have now been severely exterminated.

In addition to tusks, elephants have a huge molar tooth on each half of the upper and lower jaws. There are no fangs. Every day, an elephant grinds with its molars several tens of kilograms of coarse plant food - branches and leaves. Every 10-15 years, old, worn teeth are replaced by new ones. The growing tooth displaces the old one and gradually becomes in that place. In the life of an elephant, there are about 6 changes of teeth. An elephant lives 60-80 years.

Once in 3-4 years, the female brings one cub covered with wool. After a few days, he can already follow his mother. Asian elephants are easily tamed, although they generally do not breed in captivity. In captivity, elephants are docile and perform a variety of tasks.

Mammoth. In remote eras, the proboscis were more numerous. in Europe and North America find bones and teeth of elephant-like animals - mammoths. In the zone permafrost Siberia and Alaska are found even their frozen corpses. The body of the mammoth was covered with thick long hair. On the treeless plains, mammoths also harvested plants in winter, raking the snow with huge tusks. The Zoological Museum in Russia exhibits the world's only stuffed mammoth.

"Diversity of mammals" - Teeth. Artiodactyls. cetaceans. Lizards. Single pass. marsupials. Bats. Aardvarks. proboscis. Primates. Questions. Diversity of mammals. Odd-toed ungulates. variety of class members. Squads of mammals. Insectivores. Lagomorphs. Pinnipeds. Predatory. Rodents.

"Rhinos" - True, since rhinos are very clumsy, a person can easily escape by changing the trajectory of movement. Unlike Asian rhino species, African animals do not have skin folds. white rhino(lat. Ceratotherium simum). Black rhinoceros (lat. Diceros bicornis). Javan rhinoceros (lat. Rhinoceros sondaicus). Indian rhinos- unicorns. The black rhinoceros, like the white one, has two horns, one of which is smaller than the second.

"Elephants" - What are commonly referred to as fangs are actually just a pair of incisors in the upper jaw. Peculiar and dental system elephants. The elephant's leg is wonderfully arranged. Elephant skin is thick, almost devoid of hair, and indented with a frequent network of wrinkles. Therefore, in the course of evolution, the upper lip and nose fused together developed into an amazing appendage - the trunk. An elephant's trunk is much bigger than a human's hand.

"Mouse" - The tail is at least 90% in relation to the length of the body. House mice have well-developed sense organs. The diet also includes insects. Any available materials are used for the nest. Sense organs. Mouse. laboratory mice. Distribution and types. Weight - 12-30 g. Ears are rounded. Mouse skeletal tomogram. Often occupied by holes of other rodents: voles, gerbils. On the this moment About 130 subspecies of the house mouse have been described.

"Oviparous" - marsupial devil. Test. Gray oriental kangaroo. Possums. Baby kangaroo. Platypus. marsupials. Order of marsupials. The origin of mammals is pteriodont. Echidna. classification of mammals. Opposum. Class Mammals. Koala. Mammals that lay eggs and have a cloaca. Monotreme or oviparous. Marsupial flying squirrel. marsupial marten. marsupial wolf. The monotreme order is divided into two families: platypuses and echidnas.

"Higher Beasts" - Detachment Predatory. Useful animals. Consider the drawing. The amazing thing about animals. Let's collect material about bats. Put in the numbers. biological feature. Interview results. Bionics. Shrew. Pond nightlight. Animals. The bats. Wolf family. intermittent ultrasounds. Our favorites. collected material.

Elephants are the largest land mammals. These giants live in the grassy plains and rainforests of Africa south of the Sahara and in South-East Asia.

The elephant family consists of three certain types. The largest of them is the savannah elephant, which lives on the African plains. Males reach a height of 4 meters and weigh from 6 to 9 tons. The forest elephant lives in the rainforests of central and western Africa. It is much smaller than its relative from the savannah: adults grow up to 2.8 meters and weigh no more than 2.7 tons. The Asian elephant inhabits the jungles in the lowlands of South and Southeast Asia. In size and weight, it occupies an intermediate position between its African relatives.

elephant anatomy

All elephants have a number of anatomical features.

These mammals have a large barrel-shaped body, characteristic structure spine and concave back. A heavy head and a huge body are supported by four columnar legs. All elephants have large floppy ears, but two African species they are much larger than those of Asiatic. Through the network of blood vessels in the ears, excess heat is removed from the body, which helps elephants not to overheat in hot and humid areas.

The most prominent part of the elephant's body is the trunk. This is a long extension of the upper lip and nose, which have grown together. The trunk is a very strong and flexible organ. Elephants use it for a variety of purposes, such as lifting heavy logs or plucking leaves from tall branches. With it, they also douse themselves with water or dust.

The trunk of the Asian elephant is arranged a little differently than that of the African species. At the end it has one finger-shaped process. At African elephants there are two such branches. They are very mobile and serve to lift small objects.

Another hallmark elephants - large curved tusks, which are elongated incisors. Males are longer and thicker than females. In males Asian look the tusks are smaller, and in females they are generally hidden by the lip.

Nutrition Features

To maintain strength in their gigantic body, elephants eat a lot. An adult male needs about 160 kilograms of food every day. With their strong trunks, elephants tilt the branches and, with the help of shoots at its end, deftly tear off the foliage. These animals feed on a wide variety of plant foods, from bark and branches to grass, leaves, young shoots, and forest elephants- sometimes fruits. Elephants chew coarse plant food thanks to large relief molars and small molars.

Elephants inflict environment serious harm, peeling off the bark, breaking off branches and even uprooting small trees. In areas where large herds of elephants live, the landscape can change fundamentally: these animals eat up the dense vegetation cover, leaving behind an open grassy plain.

Interestingly, elephants supplement their diet with salt. They often visit areas where the soil is rich in this mineral and break salt crystals with their long tusks. Information about the location of salt deposits is passed down from generation to generation: young individuals learn about them from older members of the herd.