Obligatory disclaimer: as you all know, real life sucks, so
where were we? Ah yes, yesterday, we have talked small – dragonflies. Today, let
us talk big – elephants.
There are three species of elephants that exist in the
modern world: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the
Asian elephant. In fact, we have talked about the African bush elephant way
back when, when we discussed the AFO episode where this grey giant went against
a white rhinoceros and won. Quite justifiably too, for elephants kill and
dominate rhinos more often than it happens in reverse – but it does happen, so
the elephant did work hard and took risks to take down the rhino. Next?
Again, the elephant featured in AFO was the African bush
elephant; it is the biggest land mammal of the modern times as well as the
biggest elephant species out of the three. The Asian elephant is in the middle,
and the African forest elephant is the smallest. True to its’ name, this
elephant is found only in the tropical forests of western and central Africa
and is quite smaller than the African bush elephant is, and its’ ears are also
more rounded in shape out of the two species. …In addition, the African bush
elephant is found in a much wider range of habitats, and there is a well-justified
theory that the two African elephant species are not all that closely related
to each other, which may cause their taxonomic classification to be re-worked.
…The Asian elephant isn’t closely related to the African
species to begin with, and if anyone cares as to how it is different from the
latter, then the Asian elephant has smaller ears, smaller tusks, (its’ females
are tuskless, and the males often are as well), and its’ trunk has only one ‘finger’
at the end, while the African elephants have too. In fact, the elephants that
people usually see in circuses and zoos are usually the Asian species – they deal
better with humans and captivity.
What next?
A mention of another TV show ‘Inside Nature’s Giants’, where
a deceased elephant was investigated, and it was ‘discovered’ that as far as
herbivores go, modern elephants are less efficient than, say, the modern giraffes
are at digesting their food – plant matter. This is not surprising, since
taxonomically speaking, elephants are not ‘true’ ungulates, but rather ‘near
ungulates’, herbivorous mammals that aren’t hooved. Whether or not elephants
have hooves or nails is another story, but their closest relatives are hyraxes,
(small mammals that look more like hamsters or guinea pigs), and sea cows, (aka
dugongs and manatees). It is a motley crew, and now that scientists put this
trio into the Afrotheria group, which also contains African insectivores –
golden moles, otter shrews, Madagascar tenrecs and the aardvark, it has become
only motlier. Sometimes, scientific reasoning is really hard to understand.
…And now, some apologies. Firstly, when we were discussing
camels, I forgot to mention that Old World camels can hybridize with each
other; the result is a better version of the dromedary camel. The Muslims used
it as a war beast when horses could not be used. There is also a llama/camel
hybrid, but it is sterile, resembles a variant llama, and is not very popular with
modern breeders these days; there certainly are not a lot of mentions about
this ‘cama’ beast at all!
Secondly, when we were discussing dragonflies, I forgot to
mention that while their eyes literally wrap around the dragonfly’s head, the
damselflies’ eyes remain separate from each other. Informative, is not it?..
Anything else?
Sadly, no. There is a lot you can say about elephants, but
none of it is too overwhelmingly exciting; the 3 modern species are the last remnants
of once a great dynasty that practically closed with the last Ice Age, and
humans have done their best to decrease the elephant numbers even more. Pity.
Elephants are wonderful animals and they deserve our protection. Instead,
humans have tried to make them into bioweapons, as the DW episode ‘Hannibal vs.
Genghis Khan’ showed – team Hannibal used a live ‘war elephant’ on that S3
episode… but we’ve talked about in the past. …But as for the modern elephant circumstances,
maybe with COVID-19 around, their chances will improve.
…Well, this is it for now. See you all soon!
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