What is the difference between the Indian (Asian) elephant and the African. difference between african and indian elephant differences between african and indian elephants
African and Indian elephants belong to the elephant family and are descended from an ancestor who lived several million years ago. Today they are not only different types, but also different kinds under the same Genus African elephants presumably divided into savanna and forest, it is also possible to single out East African elephants, but biologists have not yet unambiguously resolved this issue. The Indian genus has only one modern look entitled asian elephant, other members of this genus have become extinct.
To distinguish in appearance elephants - the inhabitants of Africa and India - is quite simple, if you know a few characteristic features. First of all, this is the size - African elephants are taller, larger and heavier. They grow up to four to five meters in height, stretch up to 7.5 meters in length, and weigh about 7 tons. Their Indian counterparts rarely measure more than 3 meters and longer than 6.5, and weigh about 3 tons.
African elephants wrinkled, their skin appears rougher. They are darker in color sometimes to brown, while their Indian brothers are grey, with smoother skin covered with small hairs.
It is very easy to distinguish elephants by their ears: in Africans they are huge, larger than their heads, reaching a length of one and a half meters. They have a rounded shape, stick up a little and are widely spaced on the sides. Indians cannot boast of such large ones: they are modest, a few tens of centimeters, angular and pointing downwards, with a pointed end.
Representatives African species walk with a straight back, some elephants even have a slightly concave backbone. And for Asian look a characteristic bulging back, which makes them seem sad and drooping compared to their stately comrades from Africa.
Other differences between African and Indian elephants
Differences of different people are manifested not only in appearance, but also in behavior and lifestyle. For example, Africans eat mainly branches and leaves on: therefore they are taller and have longer legs. Indian animals are more likely to seek food, they do not need to have more tall sizes.
They also differ in character: Indian elephants are more friendly
Until recently, I was sure that the difference between an Indian and an African elephant is their rider. An Indian rides an Indian, and an African, respectively, rides an African. However, this is not the only difference between these animals. What is the difference between Indian elephant and African elephant?
The first difference is visible to the naked eye, this is their size. African animals are larger, their weight is about five tons, and the height at the withers can reach four meters. Asians are slightly smaller: weight up to four tons, and height - three meters.
The next difference is the ears. Asian, they are Indian elephants, have small ears pointed to the bottom, their modest size allows you to see the powerful skull of the animal. Their relatives, African elephants, have much bigger size(up to 1.5 meters). They are round in shape and clearly dominate the head.
Pay attention to the tusks of these giants, if they are long (up to three meters) and strongly curved, then you have an African elephant in front of you. The tusks are strongly developed in both males and females. In Indian elephants, tusks are shorter (up to two meters) and almost straight; in females, they may be completely absent.
You can distinguish these giants by their color: African elephants are gray-brown, and the skin of the Indian can be from gray color to dark brown.
The body of African animals is covered with multiple wrinkles, and on Indian animals, instead of folds, you can see a small vegetation.
The legs of the African elephant are long, this is due to the peculiarities of its diet, the animal eats branches and leaves of trees. The Indian ones are more squat, they eat not only branches, but also grass. His legs are thicker and shorter, so he looks more massive than his cousin.
There are slight differences in posture, the Indian elephant has a convex back, while the African one has a slightly concave back.
And finally, the trunk. The African representative has two finger-like processes on the trunk, while the Asian one has only one.
Sexual maturity of Indian elephants occurs by 15-20 years of age, African elephants reach puberty later, at 25 years.
Even on the trail, these animals can be distinguished: the African elephant has 5 hooves on the front legs, and 3 on the hind legs. The Indian elephant has 5 hooves on the front legs, and 4 on the hind legs. Accordingly, their tracks will be different.
There are also differences between these animals internal structure: the Indian has 19 pairs of ribs and 33 tail vertebrae, the African has 21 pairs of ribs and 26 vertebrae in the tail. There are also differences in the structure of the teeth.
And yet, the main difference is not so much their appearance as the content. Asian elephants are descendants of mammoths, while African elephants are extinct mastodons.
If we talk about character, then the Asian elephant can be called more accommodating. He quickly gets used to the person, easily gives in to training. A person uses the friendliness of these animals for their own purposes: they work in their homeland, and perform in the circus outside of it. In Asian countries, elephants are considered a symbol of wisdom, they stand out with the mind, have a good memory. African elephants are very aggressive and difficult to train.
Even in the recent past, in pursuit of tusks, people ruthlessly shot these majestic animals, as a result of such barbarism, their population was reduced tenfold. Today, elephants are listed in the Red Book, hunting for them is prohibited throughout the world.
It's hard to believe, but 2 representatives of the elephant family - the African elephant and its fellow Indian elephant - have such clear differences that biologists even attributed these animals to various types. Many differences are observed even in their appearance- they are striking to everyone, even if you look only at the pictures of these elephants.
Size difference
Everyone knows that on our planet there is no land dweller larger than an elephant. There is also a lesser known fact - the African elephant exceeds the size of its Indian (Asian) relative, that is, it is the largest mammal on land.
African elephant height
Its height at shoulder level can reach as much as 4 meters! And the length of the body is from 6 to 7 meters, sometimes a little more. The body weight of this giant is up to 7000 kg. The Asian elephant is smaller - it grows up to 3 m in height, up to 6 meters in length, its weight rarely exceeds 5000 kg.
different shape and elephant ears are long. The African elephant is the owner of large, elongated rounded hearing organs. The Asian ears are smaller, more elongated to the ground, pointed.
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Not only the male, but also the female African elephant has luxurious tusks (of course, the “girls” have smaller tusks). females Asian elephants tusks are completely devoid of tusks, and sometimes even males do not have them (the inhabitants of India called these elephants “makhna”). The tusk of an elephant from Africa is very long (up to 3.5 m) and strongly curved. The tusk of the Asian elephant is shorter and almost straight..
body surface
Elephant skin from Africa is covered large quantity wrinkles. The surface of the body of the Asian elephant is covered with small hairs. There are also differences in skin color - asian elephant darker(dark gray, brown), African - gray with a slight brown tint.
Body outline
Elephants are not similar to each other even in body outlines - an elephant from Africa has a straight back, sometimes slightly concave. The back of the Asian elephant is clearly convex. The limbs of the elephant from India are thicker and shorter, so it looks more overweight. Long legs the African elephant needs - he eats only the foliage of trees, for which he reaches high. His counterpart from India also eats some food from the ground, and not just leaves and branches from a tree.
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The difference between elephants in trunks
The trunks of these animals are also arranged differently - they have processes that resemble fingers in shape. Only on the trunk of an African elephant there are 2 of them, and in an Asian elephant there is only 1.
Speaking of elephants (lat. elephantidae), most of us imagine large gray animals with large ears, long tusks and a trunk, no different from each other. However, these in the highest degree smart and worthy creatures deserve to take a closer look at them.
A long time ago, in the Pleistocene era (2 million - 10 thousand years ago), almost everywhere the globe the ancient representatives of the Proboscis order moved freely - giant elephants, mammoths and mastodons, however, by the end of this period, only two genera of elephants remained alive, which are today the largest land mammals - African (lat. Loxodonta) and (Asian) (lat. Elephas maximus). African elephants, in turn, are divided into (lat. Loxodonta africana) and (lat. Loxodonta cyclotis).
Despite the seemingly almost 100% resemblance, African and Indian elephants have a lot of differences. African (savannah) elephants are larger than Indian ones - in highest point bodies (in the shoulders) they can reach 3.7 meters, and their weight exceeds 6-7 tons. Indian elephants are smaller than savannas, but larger than forest ones - they weigh about 5 tons and grow up to 3.5 meters.
The ears of African elephants are very large, their shape resembles the outlines of the "black" continent, and the pattern of the veins is individual, like human fingerprints. Long strong tusks adorn the heads of not only males (like Indian elephants), but also females.
An elephant's tusks are nothing more than its incisor teeth. And it is also an indispensable tool for protection, finding water and raising various items. Like humans, elephants can be right-handed or left-handed, making the most of their right or left tusk. Each elephant has its own, individual shape of the tusk, its size and angle of inclination, which greatly facilitates the "recognition" of individual individuals for researchers.
In addition to tusks, elephants have four more molars, each of which weighs about 2.3 kilograms and is as large as a brick. During their life, elephants completely renew the entire set of molars six times. As elephants age, their teeth become too sensitive, and they move to the swamps in search of softer vegetation. Here they remain until the end of their lives, becoming an unwitting source of many legends that elderly elephants go to die in some mysterious "valleys of death."
The most, probably main feature of any elephant is its trunk, which is both the nose and upper lip. The elephant's trunk is controlled by more than 40 thousand muscles, so it lifts both a heavy log and a straw with equal skill. At the end of the trunk of an African elephant, there are two finger-like outgrowths adapted for a comfortable grip, while the Indian elephant has only one such “finger”.
Elephants are thick-skinned animals, in the truest sense of the word - in some places, the thickness of their skin can reach 3.5-4 centimeters. However, this does not prevent her from remaining extremely sensitive, feeling the presence of even the most small insects. To protect themselves from their stinging bites or to cool themselves, elephants douse themselves with water, roll in mud or dust.
Both Indian and African elephants live in groups united by family kinship. The herd is led by the oldest and most experienced female, on whose decisions the entire life of the group depends - she determines when it is time for lunch, rest or a change of habitat.
The constant presence of adult males in the herd is completely excluded - they leave the family at the age of 12-13 years, leading a solitary lifestyle or uniting with the same loners, and visit the elephants only during the mating period, without taking any part in the further upbringing of the offspring. Groups living in the neighborhood are often also related and greet each other joyfully when they meet on the banks of water bodies.
The most developed sense in elephants is the sense of smell, but sounds play the most important role in their communication. Flapping ears warn of danger, calling to stand in a circle and protect the smallest and weakest, the trampling of feet and many variations of sounds also carry certain information for those who are at a distance of up to 8 kilometers. And even such an unpleasant phenomenon for a person as rumbling in the stomach is very welcome in the elephant community - everyone who hears it knows that everything is calm around.
To fill its stomach, an adult elephant needs to eat from 100 to 200 kilograms of succulent grass, leaves and fruits and drink about 120 liters of water. From the first days of life, newborn elephants are taught by adult females in the wisdom of handling the trunk - they are shown how to draw water into it and pour it into their mouths.
The elephant is one of the largest representatives of the animal world that exists on Earth. Previously, there were many varieties of these giants on our planet. Today the African elephant and the Indian elephant live among us. Mammoths, which became extinct in glacial period, and mastodons that disappeared before the advent of people in America, where they lived. The difference between the two remaining species is significant, so it would be appropriate to compare the African and Indian elephants.
Features of life
These animals can be found in various parts of the Earth. They live in a herd, in which there can be from ten to thirty small elephants and elephants. Also, it must have an adult, authoritative leader.
Each female elephant gives birth to an average of five baby elephants in her life. Family ties in herds are very close. So, there are groups in which about a hundred individuals are related by blood ties. certain place Elephants do not have a home. They are in motion all their lives, moving from place to place, eating vegetation and spending the night near a reservoir.
Main difference
What is the difference between Indian and African elephant? The most important difference between these two species is visible to the naked eye. These are the dimensions. The African elephant and the Indian elephant do not naturally occur in the same area. Their habitats are located at a distance from each other, and the transportation of animals is a laborious process. But if it were real, then one would notice that the African elephant is larger than its counterpart from India.
In Indian elephants puberty comes to 15-20 years. In this they are ahead of their relatives with African continent. In the latter, this period begins at the age of 25 years.
Character features
The differences between animals are not only in their internal and external structure but also in their character and temperament. Indian elephants are very friendly and get along well with people. They are easier to tame, which is what a person uses, attracting these giants to do hard work (for example, to transport goods). Indian elephants it is also easier to train, which is why they often perform in the circus. Animals from the African continent are more aggressive. They are harder to tame, but doable. They mostly stay in vivo. But there are examples of the use of these animals. For example, African elephants participated in the campaigns of Hannibal many centuries ago.
Habitat
The structural features of elephants depend largely on their habitat. Indian elephants are common in parts of India, Burma, Nepal, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Sumatra, Ceylon and Malacca. Their habitats are dense forests with tall grasses. African elephants are found in many parts of Africa, and more specifically in Botswana, Ethiopia, Namibia. Their habitat is varied. However, these giants cannot be found in the African elephant and the Indian elephant - they are related animals, each of which is interesting in its own way.