Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Elephantidae is a family of large, herbivorous proboscidean mammals which includes the living elephants (belonging to the genera Elephas and Loxodonta), as well as a number of extinct genera like Mammuthus (mammoths) and Palaeoloxodon. They are large terrestrial mammals with a snout modified into a trunk and teeth modified into tusks.
Mammoths are distinguished from living elephants by their (typically large) spirally twisted tusks and in at least some later species, the development of numerous adaptions to living in cold environments, including a thick layer of fur. Mammoths and Asian elephants are more closely related to each other than they are to African elephants.
Other descendants of the straight-tusked elephant existed in Cyprus. Dwarf elephants of uncertain descent lived in Crete, Cyclades and Dodecanese, while dwarf mammoths are known to have lived in Sardinia. [26] The Columbian mammoth colonised the Channel Islands and evolved into the pygmy mammoth. This species reached a height of 1.2–1.8 m (4 ...
African elephants call each other and respond to individual names — something that few wild animals do, according to new research published Monday. Scientists believe that animals with complex ...
[9] [10] [11] Mammoths (Mammuthus) are nested within living elephants as they are more closely related to Asian elephants than to African elephants. [12] Another extinct genus of elephant, Palaeoloxodon , is also recognised, which appears to have close affinities with African elephants and to have hybridised with African forest elephants. [ 13 ]
Primelephas is a genus of Elephantinae [1] that existed during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs. The name of the genus suggests 'first elephant'. These primitive elephantids are thought to be the common ancestor of Mammuthus, the mammoths, and the closely allied genera Elephas and Loxodonta, the Asian and African elephants, diverging some 4-6 million years ago. [2]
Asian elephants may weigh 6,000 to 12,000 pounds while African elephants can weigh up to 14,000 pounds. Between their massive size and powerful tusks, an elephant could kill a person with one hit.
Twinning, or, having two babies per pregnancy, is extremely rare in elephants. Elephant gestations result in twins about 1% of the time. Unfortunately, even when both calves survive birth, both ...