The largest elephant in the world

The elephant is by right considered the largest animal living on land. Its dimensions excite the imagination, because the person in comparison with him is just a short man. However, even among these animals there are those who clearly outnumber their brethren in size. So let's go to a small cognitive walk and find out: how much does the biggest elephant in the world weigh? Where does he live? And what kind of curious secrets does it hide?

Descendants of ancient giants

The history of the origin of elephants goes back to its roots in those distant times when a great cold snap came on the ground slowly. According to the latest research, the first elephant-like ones were born approximately 1.6 million years ago. They were an accidental genetic error - a mutation that divided mastodons into two separate species forever.

In this case, over the years, the elephant-like have also succumbed to evolutionary changes. They formed three separate subspecies. Namely, mammoths, Indian and African elephants. The first, unfortunately, could not live up to our days. But the other two now also walk in the familiar lands. But the most curious thing is that during all these long years they have not changed much.

Indian and African elephant: who is bigger?

In the last century, scientists were confident that all elephants are the same, regardless of the region in which they live. However, more recent studies have proved that this is not true. In fact, the largest elephant is African. An animal from the Black continent overtakes its Asian counterpart both in body weight and in height.

It should also be noted that the African elephant is also divided into two large subspecies: savanna and forest. In this case, the first is larger. It follows that the biggest elephant in the world is one that lives in the expanses of African savannahs. He is the owner of the title "the largest land animal of the planet".

A few figures: how much does an adult elephant weigh?

Let's start, probably, with the smallest representative of the elephant family - Indian, or, as it is called, the Asian elephant. This animal lives in Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand, India, Vietnam and China. On average, males of this species grow to 2.5-3 m in height, and their weight varies between 4.0-4.5 tons. Females are much lower than their knights - they rarely grow more than 2.4 m and weigh about 2-2.5 tons.

The African African elephant is very much like his Indian relative. Especially it concerns its proportions. Thus, the males of this species grow up to 3 m in height, although today they are rarely seen such strong. On average, forest elephants reach 2.6 m, and their weight ranges from 2.5 to 3 tons. Female have about the same proportions of the body and only slightly inferior to their knights.

As for the sowed subspecies, it is truly the largest elephant on the planet. These giants can grow up to 4 meters in height, and their maximum weight varies within 5-6 tons. The length of their body reaches 6-7 meters. In this case, females, like other subspecies, are much smaller than their cavaliers.

The largest elephant in the world: who is he?

If you believe the old archives, then the largest was an elephant, caught by hunters in Angola in the XIX century. Its weight was slightly less than 12.5 tons, and each tusk weighed at least 50 kilograms. However, given the prescription of the past, it is rather difficult to affirm the veracity of these documents.

But the official data show that the biggest elephant is Yoshi. This is the name of the 32-year-old African giant who lives in the Safari park near the city of Romat-Gan. The weight of this animal is 6 tons, and its height is 3.7 meters. At the same time the elephant is still quite young, and therefore there is a high probability that over the next ten years Yossi will grow older.

A few interesting facts about elephants

Few know that:

• The largest Indian elephant was shot in 1924. Its weight was 8 tons, and height - 3.35 m.
• Having strong legs, the elephant is nevertheless the only animal on the planet that does not know how to jump at all.
• For one day an adult male can eat about 200 kilograms of plant food and drink 300 liters of water.
• Elephants very seldom sit on their knees or crouch. Moreover, these animals sleep standing, and only small elephants are able to lie on their side.
• Despite such large proportions of the body, the elephant can run at a speed of 40 km / h. During the run, he easily breaks through the brick wall, and in case of panic, he will completely crush anyone who falls under his feet.