African Elephant
African elephant has large ears with a length of up to 1.5 meters, helping to create a cooling breeze to him the whole body. Proboscis terminated by two palczastymi appendages, used for breathing, drinking, sniffing, it is helpful in the bath helps to gather food. It has 4 teeth with a length of 30 cm each, blows like fangs, an extension of the incisors and grow throughout their lives. African elephant feet are soft underneath. Heavily wrinkled skin, with little hair. Average life expectancy of African elephant is about 70 years.

Occurrence, habitat: Africa, the area between the southern Sahara and Namibia, North Africa, northern Botswana. It lives mainly on the savannas, steppes, forests.

Features:

Height 3 to 4 m male
          2.2 to 2.6 m female
The length of 6 to 7.5 m male
                    4.9 to 6.2 m female
Weight 4000 to 6000 kg male
                       2100 to 3200 kg female
Length hits: 3 m
Weight blows: 30 to 40 kg

Lifestyle: Lives in flocks consisting of family members, but not males, which are chased away from the herd when they reach maturity and then live alone and are admitted to the herd only during estrus female. Elephants live only a short distance from the water that they use to drink and frequent bathing. In order to protect against insects elephants showering after swimming in the sand. To communicate between themselves using special sounds: grunting and trumpeting (in cases of nervousness). These noises are created by the throat, and nasal trumpets.

Nutrition: African Elephants eat only plants, mostly grasses, tree leaves, branches and limbs. The daily nutritional needs of an elephant are 200 kg of food and 190 liters of water, after treatment eliminated up to 90 kg of faeces. For grinding food, using its four teeth. If you lose them - they die.

Reproduction: An indication of the beginning of copulation are gestures involving the chafing of the trumpets. Pregnancy lasts about 22 months, after which the young person is born weighing about 110 kg. In one female births take place at approximately 4 years.

Development: After the birth mother's feeding time is about 2 years. Sexual maturity is reached after 14-15 years.

Security: African elephant is protected by law established by the Washington Convention CITES. Was introduced due to the rapid decline of this species by poaching and the destruction of the environment. In 1989 he introduced a total ban on ivory trade, which were relaxed in 1997.