African Elephants vs Asian Elephants
African elephant and Asian elephant are the two of the three existing species of elephant today with African bush elephant as the third specie and the descendants of the ancient animals, mastodon and mammoth. These Elephants are hunted for their tusks which have a high selling price in the market.
African Elephant
African elephant (Loxodonta Africana) is the largest mammal in the world which is enormously weighing 12,000 lbs. (male) and can stand up to 12 ft. high. They have four molars which weights 10 lbs approximately. Throughout their entire life span, their molars changes only 6 times. When their front molars wear down, their back molars move forward and were replaced by new ones.
Asian Elephant
Elephas maximus or Asian elephant is also known by others as Indian elephant. Widely found in India and some in other Asian countries like Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. Their ears are smaller and they have two bumps in their heads. It is estimated that there are some 40,000 living Asian elephants in the entire world and almost 50% of it lives in captivity. It is currently listed as endangered species.
A distinguishable characteristic between Asian and African female elephants is that the former don’t have tusks while the latter have. Compared to the Asian elephants, the African elephants have larger ears which they use to fan their bodies. The African elephant have only two remaining sub-species out of six, they are the African bush and African forest elephants, the other four being extinct. On the other hand, Asian elephants have four living species namely: Indian Elephant, Borneo Elephant, Sri Lankan Elephant, and Sumatran Elephant. Asian elephants have humps on their head whereas in African elephants it’s quite smooth.
Many of the elephants were killed by human because of their tusks and meat which can be sold at a great price in the market. Due to our actions, they currently belong to the endangered species list. If we continue hunting them for our own selfish motives, time will come that these animals, the African elephant and Asian elephant, will be extinct.
| In brief:
• African female elephants have tusks whereas Asian female elephants don’t have tusks but what they have are tushes which are more or less the same as tusks and can be seen the moment they open their mouth. • African elephants (12,000 lbs.) are bigger compared to Asian elephants (11,000 lbs.). • African elephants have larger ears than Asian elephants. • African elephants are taller than Asian elephants. • African elephants skins are more wrinkled than Asian elephants. • African elephants have concave shaped backs while Asian elephant’s backs are almost straight. • Asian elephants have humps on their head whereas in African elephants it’s quite smooth. • Asian elephants trunks have lesser rings and ends with single finger, while African elephants trunks have less rings and ends with two fingers. • The African elephants have two living sub-species namely: African bush and African forest. On the other hand, Asian elephants have four living sub-species: Indian Elephant, Borneo Elephant, Sri Lankan Elephant, and Sumatran Elephant. |