Asian Elephant and African ElephantAfrican and Asian elephants both belong to the order Proboscidea and family elephantidae. Although they belong to same order and family, they are different from each other in terms of their body shape, size, behaviour etc. Let us see how an African elephant differs from an Asian elephant. Asian Elephant:Asian elephants belong to the order Proboscidea and family elephantidae in the animal kingdom. Its scientific name is Elephas maximus. They can be easily identified by their smaller, rounded ears and twin-domed head with an indent in the middle. They also have distinctive long and tapered lower lips. Asian elephants are smaller than the African species. The male Asian elephants grow up to 3.5m and weigh from 3000 to 6,000 kg. Only the male Asian elephants have tusks and they are comparatively smaller in size than the African elephant's tusks. Asian elephants are extremely sociable, so tend to form groups of six to seven related females led by the oldest female called matriarch. They are herbivorous prefer to feed on grasses instead of leaves. African Elephant:African elephants belong to the order Proboscidea and family elephantidae in the animal kingdom. Its scientific name is Loxodonta. They are larger than the Asian elephants, with male elephants growing up to 4m tall and weigh from 4,000 to 7500 kg. They have shorter lower lips and more rounded heads, i.e. the top of the head is a single dome. African elephants are also known for their bigger ears that can reach up and over the neck. Their skin is more wrinkled and they generally have more ribs than the Asian elephants. Their trunk is heavily ringed but is not as hard as the Asian elephant's trunk. They are herbivorous and prefer to feed on leaves instead of grasses. Based on the above information, some of the key differences between Asian and African elephants are as follows:
Next TopicDifference between
|