Elephants

biggest, forward and back (fore-aft)

The last tooth is the ___, and the chewing motion is ___

China, they banned the ivory trade in Jan. 2017

Where is ivory most prevelant? What have they done to try and solve this?

solitary or bachelor herds

Adult males leave the group to become __ or ___

1, twins are very rare.

An elephants litter size is ___

1) increase in height 2) lengthening and thickening of limbs 3) enlargment of skull, reduction of neck 4) trunk and incisor elongation 5) reduction in # of cheekteeth present at any one time

Changes from Phosphattherium to modern elephants (5)

10 million, 800,000

Conservation of elephants is crucial! in 1900 there were ___, by the 80's there were only ___

tusk-less elephants

Due to poaching there has been genetic selection for ____

keystone species

Due to their environmental impact elephants are known as ___

traveling, eating

During musth he will spend more time ___, and less time___

advertise when they are in estrus

Female elephants use thier infrasound vocalizations to

They turn forest and savannas into grasslands by knocking trees over and eating all the plants.

How do elephants alter the land?

They stick their trunks in the other elephants mouth

How do elephants greet with their vomeronasal organ

upper lip and nose grasping, 6

The trunk is the elongated __ & ____ It is a ____ organ comprised of ___ major muscle groups

rises

Their trunks ___ to get scent from air

infrasound, low, far

They make a lot of ___ sounds, which are ___ frequency vocalizations that travel ___

Graveyards. The elephants didn't create graveyards, they got there by poachers or rivers, but the elephants are affectionate towards bones/dead bodies, often touching them for hours and returning frequently.

Myth about elephants ...they have ____

Forget. just an exaggeration, though they have wonderful memories & are great at recognition

Myth about elephants...they never ___

It allows them to win a battle with a stronger, more dominant male

Name one reason why scientists beleive musth may be useful for a male elephant

bees

Unique fact: Electric fences cannot keep elephants out, but ____ can

60, Africa

Phosphattherium lived __ mya in ____

False: they speed walk up to 25mph

T/F: Elephants can run

Memory (of food and water)

What is very important for an elephants survival throughout it's entire life?

African = desert, forest, srcub; wide variety Asian= only forests

What kind of habitats can the African elephants live in? Asian?

1)smaller size 2) bigger ears 3) yellow tusks

What makes the African forest elephant different from the bush elephant? (3)

They will excavate or dig holes to find ground water, which is beneficial to other animals in need of water

What will elephants do when they cannot find water, and why is this beneficial?

Because older, stronger males hold dominant positions for a while

Whay does it take so long for males to reproduce?

They originated in Africa from a primitive ungulate stock

Why are they in the Subungulate group?

allomothering

providing care to another female's young

Yes, they are albino with yellow eyes

Do white elephants exist?

food, termites & dung beetles

Elephants generate a lot of dung which is ___ for other animals such as _ & _

vomeronasal organ

Elephants have a well-developed ___ on the roof of their mouth

2 feet on the ground

elephants always keep _____

seed dispersers

Especially in forests, elephants are good ___

30,000

How many elephants are slaughtered each year for ivory?

- beasts of burden (cleaning up debris) -weapons of war

In what 2 ways have humans used elephants (besides entertainment)

precise

Like human hands, an elephants trunk is very ____, they can pick up something as small as a penny or blade of grass

musth

periods of heightened sexual activity in males

really dense, 15

to carry all their weight elephants bones are ___ & about ___% of their body mass is thier skeleton

growing, largest

Elephants never stop ____, so the matriarch is usually the ___ elephant

They destroy the largest elephants with the longest tusks which are usually the females who are experienced with food and water locations leaving the rest of the herd lost. Also, elephants are very selfless towards one another, and will not leave another that is harmed or killed, resulting in their own death by poachers.

How have poachers become so harmful to families?

dominance polygyny

Male elephants will establish dominance in their bachelor herds, because their mating system is a form of ____

20, 7

Early proboscideans ranged in size from ___ lbs to over ____ tons

socially, affectionate with other herds

Elephants don't just use their memory for food & water, they also use it ____, and are ____

260, 11

The largest tusks on record were ___ lbs, and ___ ft long

change frequently

The males in bachelor herds ___

browser & grazer

They are both ___ & ___ (how they eat)

True

True or False? All African elephants have visible tusks no matter what sex.

False, female asian elephants tusks are not visible, they are too small.

True or False? All Asian elephants have visible tusks no matter what sex.

dentine

Tusk is mostly made of ____ which is perfect for carving and why they are poached for their tusks

Keeping out dust

What are the enormous eyelashes on an elephants eyelids used for?

King of Thailand. Where they are pampered and only used in parades.

Where do white elephants go and what are they used for?

Kenya

Which African country would set fire to thousands of dollars worth of ivory to prove a point about the ivory trade and it's need to end

poor

elephants have ___ vision

6

An elephants infrasounds can travel up to ___ miles away

No, they have to learn how, which may take up to several years of practice.

Are elephants born knowing how to efficiently use their trunks?

Yes, and they are all cooperative with the care of the babies

Are the adult females in an elepahnt herd related?

5, teenagers

Baby elephants are totally dependent on mom until they are __ years old, but are still dependent until ____

coordinate movements

Besides mating, infrasounds are also used between groups to

1) 100 lbs. 2) browser 3) brachydont cheekteeth 4) amphibious

Characteristics of Phosphattherium (4)

gestation, 22 (almost 2 years)

Elephants have the longest ____ of any animal, ___ months

digitigrade, large pad of dense connective tissue in the heel

Elephants techinally have a ____ stance, but have a ___

master tusk

Elephants tend to be right or left- tusked, the dominant tusk is called the ___

11, 7

Largest terrestrial animal today. Largest recorded weighed ___ tons, average is ___ tons.

dangerous, death

Males fighting can be ___ & lead to ___

higher rate of infant survival (allomothering is VERY important)

More allomothering=

Pleistocene 10,000

Most of the early proboscideans were gone by the end of the _____, which was about ___ years ago.

1

Only __ cheektooth per quadrant is completely functional @ any 1 time

adaptive radation, 180

Over the last 55 million years, Proboscideans went through lots of _____, over ____ species have lived (not all at once)

Hyracoidea & Sirenia

Proboscidea is part of the group "Subungulates", which also includes:

Touching pee with trunks and using vomeronasal organ to identify them

Scientists beleive elephants can identify individuals by doing this

turbinate, odor receptors

The ___ bones are well-developed with lots of ____

older (with age comes wisdom)

The ___ the matriacrh the better off the group is

matriarch, oldest

The family is led by the ____, who is the ____ female

incisors

The tusks are the __

separate monophyletic groups

There are cases of hybridization between African bush and forest elephants but they are...

1) eat food/ drink water (water isnt swallowed in nose, just transferred from nose to mouth by spraying) 2) pick up/ use tools 3) greet others 4) dust bathing

What are some things elephants use their trunk for? (4)

Asian Elephant- Elephas maximus African Bush Elephant- Loxodonta africana African Forest ELephant- Loxodonta cyclotis

What are the extant species of elephants (common and genus/species)

'trunk bearer'

What does Proboscidea stand for?

1-9 adult females and their young

What does the basic social unit consist of?

1) determines movement of group 2) leads them to food & water

What does the matricarch do? (2)

Poachers killed 90% of the adults, which caused all the infants to die. The teens then formed a big group of about 150, and were chaotic group who fought a lot and had no direction.

What happened in Uganda in the 1970's?

1/0 0/0 3/3 3/3 26 total

What is an elephants dentition formula? How many total?

fields, bananas & sugar cane

When elephants cannot find food, they will raid ____, whats there favorite?

Her eldest daughter (usually)

When the matriarch passes, who takes her place?

From Africa to Europe & Asia, then across the Bering Land Bridge to the Americas

Where did the early proboscideans travel?

Without her memory and guidance the herd wouldn't be able to survive

Why is the matriarch an important, vital aspect to the family?

low, can't dump heat as easily

Elephants have a ___ surface area to volume ratio and therefore _____

in sequence (1 at a time)

An elephants teeth erupt ___

NO! 1/3 of African's elephants are forest elephants

Are African forest elephants rare?

Phosphattherium

Earliest known Proboscidean?

graviportal

Elephant limbs are designed to carry weight, this is called...

air pockets/cavities

Elephant skulls are filled with _____, thought to make them lighter to carry

hindgut, fertilizers, the digestion is fast and sloopy, leaving nurtitents behind

Elephants are ___ fermenters, which makes great ____ because ___

300, 30

Elephants can eat up to ___ lbs of food a day and drink up to ___ gallons of water a day

walk very quietly (they can sneak up on you very easily)

Even though they carry lots of weight, the pad in their feet helps them...

1) little to no hair 2) wrinkled skin (increases surface area) 3) huge, thin, highly vascularized ears

How do elephants dump heat? (3)

1) he must not be closely related to her 2) They must be large (dominant) or in musth

How do female elephants pick a mate? (2)

1) Head shaking 2) ear flare 3) kicking the ground 4) charging

How do males display dominance over another male while defending females? (4)

They touch an object/surface with end of trunk and then stick end of trunk to the roof of their mouth.

How does elephant flehmen work?

60-80 years

How long can an elephant live?

it does not just occur during rut, it is not on a regular cycle, and varies in length (days to months)

Musth is unsual in that it...

1) secretions from temporal gland (swelling and oozing) 2) behavior is erratic and aggressive 3) Testosterone levels increase 4) urinate almsot frequently

What 4 things happen to a male during musth?

10 years old, 20 years old

What age are female elephants ready to reproduce? What age do they actually start reproducing?

15 years old, 30-50 years old.

What age are males reproductively mature? When do they actualy start reproducing?

Lophodont, hypsodont

What are elephants cheekteeth like?

They wave them back and forth to cool the blood inside their ears, to send to other parts of the body.

What do elephants do with ears to keep cool?

Her family surrounds her in a tight circle, and stays that way for a while after birth

What happens when a mother elephant is giving birth?

milk teeth, adult teeth

an elephants 1st 3 cheekteeth are ___, the last 3 are ___

excellent

elephants have ___ hearing

excellent

elephants have an ___ sense of smell

philopatric, leave

females are _____ while males ___ (social grouping)