African forest elephant - Elephant village

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The African forest elephant

The African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) is one of the two living African elephant species. It is native to humid forests in West Africa and the Congo Basin.

It is the smallest of the three living elephant species, reaching a shoulder height of 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in). Both sexes have straight, downpointing tusks, which erupt when they are 1–3 years old. It lives in family groups of up to 20 individuals. Since it forages on leaves, seeds, fruit, and tree bark.

it has been referred to as the ‘megagardener of the forest’. It contributes significantly to maintain the composition and structure of the Guinean Forests of West Africa and the Congolese rainforests.

The first scientific description of the species was published in 1900. During the 20th century, the population declined due to hunting to less than 30,000 individuals estimated in 2013.

It is threatened by habitat loss, fragmentation and poaching. The conservation status of populations varies across range countries.

Taxonomy

oxodonte was proposed as the generic name for African elephants by Georges Cuvier in 1825.

This name refers to the lozenge-shaped enamel of the molar teeth, which differs significantly from the shape of the Asian elephant’s molar enamel. Loxodonte was latinized to Loxodonta by an anonymous author in 1827.

Elephas (Loxodonta) cyclotis was the scientific name proposed by Paul Matschie in 1900 who described the skulls of a female and a male specimen collected by the Sanaga River in southern Cameroon.

Phylogeny

The African forest elephant was long considered to be a subspecies of the African elephant, together with the African bush elephant. Morphological and DNA analysis showed that they are two distinct species.

The taxonomic status of the African pygmy elephant (Loxodonta pumilio) was uncertain for a long time. Phylogenetic analysis of the mitochondrial genome of nine specimens from museum collections indicates that it is an African forest elephant whose diminutive size or early maturity is due to environmental conditions.

Phylogenetic analysis of nuclear DNA of African bush and forest elephants, Asian elephants, woolly mammoths and American mastodons revealed that the African forest elephant and African bush elephant form a sister group that genetically diverged at least 1.9 million years ago. They are therefore considered distinct species. Gene flow between the two species might have occurred after the split, though.

Analysis of ancient DNA from living and extinct elephantids indicates that the African forest elephant is one of three ancestors of the straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus).

Characteristics

The African forest elephant has a grey skin, which looks yellow to reddish after wallowing. It is sparsely covered with black coarse hair, which is 20–200 mm (0.8–8 in) long around the tip of the tail.

The length of the tail varies between individuals from half the height of the rump to almost touching ground. It has five toenails on the fore foot and four on the hind foot.

Its oval-shaped ears have small elliptical-shaped tips. Its large ears help to reduce body heat; flapping them creates air currents and exposes the ears’ inner sides where large blood vessels increase heat loss during hot weather.

Its back is nearly straight. Its tusks are straight and point downwards.

Size

Bulls reach a shoulder height of 2.4–3.0 m (7.9–9.8 ft). Females are smaller at about 1.8–2.4 m (5.9–7.9 ft) tall at the shoulder.

They reach a weight of 2–4 tonnes (2.2–4.4 short tons). Foot print size ranges from 12.5 to 35.3 cm (4.9 to 13.9 in).

Trunk

The tip of the trunk of African elephants has two finger-like processes. The trunk is a prehensile elongation of its upper lip and nose.

This highly sensitive organ is innervated primarily by the trigeminal nerve, and thought to be manipulated by about 40–60,000 muscles. Because of this muscular structure, the trunk is so strong that elephants can use it for lifting about 3% of their own body weight.

They use it for smelling, touching, feeding, drinking, dusting, producing sounds, loading, defending and attacking.

Tusks and molars

The African forest elephant’s tusks are straight and point downwards. Both male and female African elephants have tusks that grow from deciduous teeth called tushes, which are replaced by tusks when calves are about one year old.

Tusks are composed of dentin, which forms small diamond-shaped structures in the tusk’s center that become larger at its periphery. A conical layer on their tips consisting of tooth enamel is usually worn off when the elephant is five years old.

The African forest elephant has pink tusks, which are thinner and harder than the tusks of the African bush elephant. The length and diameter vary between individuals.

Tusks of bulls grow throughout life, tusks of cows cease growing when they are sexually mature. They use their tusks for marking and debarking trees, digging for roots, minerals and water, to rest and protect the trunk, and also for defense and attack.

The tusks are used to push through the dense undergrowth of their habitat. Their tusks can grow to about 1.5 m (5 ft) long and can weigh between 23 and 45 kg (50 and 100 lb).

Distribution and habitat

The African forest elephant is distributed in the evergreen moist deciduous Upper Guinean forests in Ivory Coast and Ghana.

Populations in Central Africa range in large contiguous rainforest tracts from Cameroon to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The largest stable population lives in Gabon.