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)