African forest elephant
| African Forest Elephant | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| An African Forest Elephant with its cub | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Superclass: | Tetrapoda |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Subclass: | Theria |
| Superorder: | Afrotheria |
| Order: | Proboscidea |
| Superfamily: | Elephantoidea |
| Family: | Elephantidae |
| Genus: | Loxodonta |
| Species: | L. cyclotis |
The African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) is an elephant which lives in the forests of the Congo Basin. It is considered a subspecies of the African Bush Elephant (Loxodonta africana), a 2010 study said that the two elephants were two different species.The Pygmy elephants of the Congo basin, is said to be a different species (Loxodonta pumilio) by cryptozoologists. They are probably forest elephants whose small size is due to the environmental conditions.
Differences [change]
The differences include that the African forest elephant has a long, narrow mandible (the African bush elephant's is short and wide), it has rounded ears (an African bush elephant's ears are more pointed), straighter and downward tusks, smaller size, and more toenails. The male African forest elephant rarely grows more than 2.5 metres (8 ft) in height, while the African bush elephant is usually over 3 metres (just under 10 feet) and sometimes almost 4 metres (13 ft) tall. The African bush elephant normally has 4 toenails on the frontfoot and 3 on the hindfoot, the African forest elephant normally has 5 toenails on the frontfoot and 4 on the hindfoot (like the Asian elephant).
Diet [change]
The African forest elephant is an herbivore(plant eater) and commonly eats leaves,a big amount of fruit, and bark, and sometimes visits to mineral licks.
Other websites [change]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Loxodonta cyclotis |
 |
Wikispecies has information on: Loxodonta cyclotis. |
- BBC Wildlife Finder - video clips from the BBC archive
- ARKive - Images and movies of the forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis)
- PBS Nature: Tracking Forest Elephants
- Forest Elephant Program
- Elephant Information Repository - An in-depth resource on elephants
- The Elephant Listening Project - Information on forest elephants and their vocalizations.
