Elephants of the Genus Loxodonta

The African elephant is the largest living terrestrial animal. Its thickset body rests on stocky legs, and it has a concave back.[3] Its large ears enable heat loss.[4] Its upper lip and nose forms a trunk. The trunk acts as a fifth limb, a sound amplifier and an important method of touch. The African elephant's trunk ends in two opposing lips,[5] whereas the Asian elephant trunk ends in a single lip.[5] African bush elephants are bigger than Asian elephants. Males stand 3.2–4.0 m (10–13 ft) tall at the shoulder and weigh 4,700–6,048 kg (10,360–13,330 lb), while females stand 2.2–2.6 m (7–9 ft) tall and weigh 2,160–3,232 kg (4,762–7,125 lb).[6]

The largest recorded individual stood four metres (13.1 ft) to the shoulders and weighed 10 tonnes (10 long tons; 11 short tons).[3]

Teeth

Female African forest elephant with juvenile in the Republic of the Congo

Elephants have four molars; each weighs about 5 kg (11 lb) and measures about 30 cm (12 in) long. As the front pair wears down and drops out in pieces, the back pair shifts forward, and two new molars emerge in the back of the mouth. Elephants replace their teeth six times. At about 40 to 60 years of age, the elephant no longer has teeth and will likely die of starvation, a common cause of death.

Their tusks are firm teeth; the second set of incisors become the tusks. They are used for digging for roots and stripping the bark off trees for food, for fighting each other during mating season, and for defending themselves against predators. The tusks weigh from 23–45 kg (51–99 lb) and can be from 1.5–2.4 m (5–8 ft) long. Unlike Asian elephants, both male and female African elephants have tusks.[7] They are curved forward and continue to grow throughout the elephant's lifetime.[5] The enamel plates of the molars are fewer in number than in Asian elephants.[8]

Distribution and habitat

Male African bush elephant. Adult males usually live alone.

Females (here bush elephants in Tanzania) usually live in...