Elephants are mammals of the family Elephantidae and the largest existing land animals. Three species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. Distinctive features of all elephants include a long proboscis called a trunk, tusks, large ear flaps, massive legs, and tough but sensitive skin. They communicate by touch, sight, smell, and sound.
About Elephant in brief
Elephants are mammals of the family Elephantidae and the largest existing land animals. Three species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. Distinctive features of all elephants include a long proboscis called a trunk, tusks, large ear flaps, massive legs, and tough but sensitive skin. African elephants have larger ears and concave backs, whereas Asian elephants have smaller ears, and convex or level backs. Elephants have a fission–fusion society, in which multiple family groups come together to socialise. Females tend to live in family groups, which can consist of one female with her calves or several related females with offspring. Males leave their family groups when they reach puberty, and may live alone or with other males. They communicate by touch, sight, smell, and sound; elephants use infrasound, and seismic communication over long distances. Elephant intelligence has been compared with that of primates and cetaceans. They appear to have self-awareness, and appear to show empathy for dying and dead family members. They are highly recognisable and have been featured in art, folklore, religion, literature, and popular culture. One of the biggest threats to elephant populations is the ivory trade, as the animals are poached for their ivory tusk.
In the past, they were used in war; today, they are often controversially put on display in zoos, or exploited for entertainment in circuses. The word elephas is based on the Latin elephas, probably from a non-Indo-European language, likely Phoenician. It is attested in Mycenaean Greek as e-re-pa in Linear B syllabic script. Homer used the Greek word to mean ivory, but after the time of Herodotus, it also referred to the animal. The word appears in Middle English as olyfaunt and was borrowed from Old French oliphant. Orycteropodidae Macroscelididae Chrysochloridae Tenrecidae Procaviidae Elephantidae Dugongidae Trichechidae early proboscideans e. gomphiidae Steegodonta e.gomphus Mammuthus Eleuthus primigenius Loxodontis Palenontis. Loxoloxodon antiquus antiquus Loxodon americanus mammuthus columbus primigenius. Elephantidae is the only surviving family of the order Proboscidea; extinct members include the mastodons. Elephantidae also contains several now-extinct groups, including the mammoths and straight-tusked elephants. They are herbivorous, and they stay near water when it is accessible. They can live up to 70 years in the wild, and are considered to be keystone species, due to their impact on their environments. Their closest relatives are the sirenians and hyraxes.
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This page is based on the article Elephant published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 01, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
