Day Six: African Elephant (Loxodonta Africana)

Name: Loxodonta Africana (African Elephant)

Classification: Genus - Loxodonta
                         Family - Elephantidae
                         Order - Proboscidea
                         Class - Mammalia
                         Phylum - Chordata
                         Kingdom - Animalia

Location: The African Elephant can be found in areas of Eastern, Western, and Southern Africa.


IUCN Red List Status: Vulnerable


General Information: The African Elephant can be divided into two subspecies. The African Bush Elephant (or Savannah)
and the African Forest Elephant. 
The African Bush Elephant is the largest land animal in the world with males reaching 24.5ft in length and 10.8ft tall.
The average life span is 70 years and can weigh anywhere between 5,000-14,000lbs.
The African Elephant loves to roll in dirt and mud and will often use its trunk to spray dirt around its coat to keep cool
.Additionally, they use their trunk for many tasks such as: trumpeting, drinking, smelling, and grabbing objects.
Their social structure consists of Herds composed of the Females and their calves. The eldest female, or the matriarch, 
is the head of the herd and will be the one who decides what path they take and leads them to water sources.

The Threat:
The African Elephant used to range in the numbers of millions until the 1980's. The population begun to drop drastically
due to poaching for their ivory tusks and meat to sell on the black market. Roughly 500,000 remain today in the wild
due to poaching, climate change, and human interference. in the 1990's the Ivory ban was introduced and poaching had 
dropped significantly as hoped. However, some countries in Africa that are under-funded still have a high poaching
account.

References:
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/african-elephant/
http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/finder/africanelephants/africanelephant.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_bush_elephant