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A female African bush elephant skeleton on display at the Museum of Osteology, Oklahoma City. The first scientific description of the African elephant was written in 1797 by Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, who proposed the scientific name Elephas africanus. [3] Loxodonte was proposed as a generic name for the African elephant by Frédéric Cuvier in
Men with elephant tusks at Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, c. 1900. The poaching of elephants for their ivory, meat and hides has been one of the major threats to their existence. [149] Historically, numerous cultures made ornaments and other works of art from elephant ivory, and its use was comparable to that of gold. [151]
When looking at an African elephant and an Asian elephant side-by-side, you can really tell the differences in their head shapes and tasks. African elephants generally have much larger tusks than ...
The African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana), also known as the African savanna elephant, is a species of elephant native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of three extant elephant species and, along with the African forest elephant , one of two extant species of African elephant .
Tusks are continuously growing incisors. Typically, adult elephant teeth comprise 12 premolars, 12 molars, and two tusks. These twin teeth are composed of four layers, the outermost being the enamel.
These animals are capable of using their tusks as tools, but they also express the rare capacity to actually craft tools of their own — and tusks play a critical role in this process.
In 2013, over 20,000 African elephants were killed for their ivory. The slaughter of African elephants is driven by the black market value of elephant ivory. The illicit trade in ivory is primarily in Asia where ivory sells for several thousands of dollars per kilogram. [8] Satao's tusks were estimated to weigh more than 100 pounds (45 kg) each.
An African elephant in Tanzania, with visible tusks. Tusks are elongated, continuously growing front teeth that protrude well beyond the mouth of certain mammal species. They are most commonly canine teeth, as with narwhals, chevrotains, musk deer, water deer, muntjac, pigs, peccaries, hippopotamuses and walruses, or, in the case of elephants, elongated incisors.