African elephants are the largest land mammals that inhabit our planet. The African elephant can reach a height of more than four meters with a weight of 7 – 8 tons. In most cases, males are slightly larger than females.
At first glance it is rather difficult to distinguish the female African elephant from the male by appearance. Tusks are present in both females and males, and their sizes can be truly fantastic – there are cases when elephants whose tusks reached more than four meters were discovered.
According to researchers, savanna elephants arose as a species about 1.9 million years ago, while forest elephants – about 1.7 million years. On the agenda now is the question of singling out a separate species of East African elephants, which have some features of DNA.
Mating of forest elephants is seasonal. Males start to allocate hormones that attract females, behave militantly, commit other recruitment actions. In the process of estrus females are separated from the herd, get acquainted and mate with the males. After 22-24 months in the herd of the female replenishment occurs. Usually one baby elephant is born.
