Loxodonta africana

(Blumenbach, 1797)

African Bush Elephant

Figure 1. Photograph by B. Stanley.

Figure 2. FMNH 18843. Photograph by R. Banasiak.

Type Description:

Handb. Naturgesch., 5th ed., p. 125

Type Locality:

Restricted to the Orange River, South Africa by Pohle (1926; see Allen, 1939).

Measurements:

Tail length: 1000-1500 mm

Weight: 2400-6300 kg

Distribution:

Found in all vegetation types, Loxodonta africana has a fragmented distribution with isolated areas from Senegal to Ethiopia and Somalia down to Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique with two isolated patches in the southern Cape in South Africa. (Kingdon, 1997)

Key Reference:

1. Kingdon, J. 1989. East African mammals: An atlas of evolution in Africa. (Large Mammals). University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 3B:30-75.
2. Kingdon, J. 1997. The Kingdon field guide to African mammals, AP Natural World Academic Press, Harcourt Brace & Company, San Diego, p. 305.
3. Nowak, R. M. 1999. Walker's Mammals of the World. Sixth ed. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2:993-994, 998-1004.