Thomson Safaris
Loxodonta Africana
*Savanna elephants – grassy plains and uncultivated lands of Africa
*Forest elephants – central and western countries of Africa
Tropical and subtropical forests, grasslands and savannahs
Elephas Maximus
Eastern Himalayas and Greater Mekong
Mainly live in forest habitats
Tusks
Tusks are used for various reasons; digging for food and water, to clear any sort of debris or knock things down, fighting, carrying, amongst other things.
Mouth
Elephants have six sets of teeth throughout their life span. Once one set of teeth is worn down, a new set grows behind the old.
Eyes
Generally have poor vision but are able to see clearly within shorter distances. Vision improves in jungle and shaded areas. What elephants lack in eyesight, they merely make up for in their sense of hearing and smell.
Ears
Both the Asian and African elephant's ears different in size, however, their superior hearing triumphs over humans. Elephants use their large ears to amplify sounds over long distances.
Trunk
One of the most versatile organs of an elephant's body. Elephants use their trunks as an aide for their sense of touch. Serving as their primary sense of smell, an elephant's trunk is also adaptable to picking up objects.
Herbivores
Their diet consists of leaves, bamboo, and several types of grasses. Elephants spend twenty hours a day consuming about 300 kilograms of foliage and drinking up to 100 liters of water a day.
Fission-Fusion
Elephants are compromised of fission-fusion societies, which are multi-tiered systems. A matriarch leads the herd, which is mostly made up of females. Elephants are very family oriented. For whatever reason the mother of a calf cannot provide for her young, the other females within the herd look after the young calf.
They also recognize their own dead and have been known to pick up bones as a sign of mourning. This has been proven to only happen with other elephant corpses and no other species.
Reproduction
Elephants can only have one calf at a time. They can spend up to 22 months in gestation. These animals are what is known as K-reproducers.
Mortality
Currently the elephant species is declining at a drastic rate due to poaching and the demand for ivory. Elephants are dying faster than they can reproduce naturally.
When an elephant dies of natural causes, it is usually due to the wearing down of the elephant's set of teeth. In their old age, their teeth are worn down to the base, which the elephant loses the ability to grind and chew the foliage, resulting in starvation and malnutriution.