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138-537: During Beringia's long history some animals migrated Easterly ( mastodons , gomphotheres , mammoths , various members of the deer family , bison , sheep and muskoxen ) others Westerly ( equines , camels ), and yet others reveal many episodes of dispersal (such as lemmings and voles ). Recent research includes the paleobotany around the Bluefish Caves , habitat of ground squirrels ( Spermophilus parryii ) and their middens , Klondike gold fields , and

276-523: A nomen dubium and that further analysis needs to be done to confirm whether or not M. furlongi belongs to Zygolophodon instead. In 2023, Wighart von Koenigswald et al. reviewed the North American species of Zygolophodon and Mammut . They synonymized P. adamsi and P. sellardsi with Mammut matthewi and emended M. nevadanus and M. pacificus to M. nevadanum and M. pacificum , respectively. They also said that they were uncertain of

414-415: A 'breaking in' process, which may involve being tied up, confined, starved, beaten and tortured; as a result, two-thirds may perish. Handlers use a technique known as the training crush , in which "handlers use sleep-deprivation, hunger, and thirst to "break" the elephants' spirit and make them submissive to their owners"; moreover, handlers drive nails into the elephants' ears and feet. The Asian elephant

552-485: A 2003 survey, the local people expressed some form of disapproval towards the conservation of Asian elephants as farmers viewed them as pests, however, most of the participants were supportive of the idea. In China, Asian elephants are under first-level protection. Yunnan province has 11 national and regional nature reserves. In total, the covered protected area in China is about 510,000 ha (1,300,000 acres). In 2020,

690-520: A 2010 study, it was estimated that in India alone, over 400 people were killed by elephants each year, and 0.8 to 1 million hectares were damaged, affecting at least 500,000 families across the country. Moreover, elephants are known to destroy crops worth up to US$ 2–3 million annually. This has major impacts on the welfare and livelihoods of local communities, as well as the future conservation of this species. In countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka ,

828-474: A 2013 study, an estimated 10, 000 elephants inhabited the Western Ghats , and were primarily threatened by poaching and habitat fragmentation. An increase in conflict with humans was also cited as a likely issue. Conservation plans aimed to establish wildlife corridors, stop poaching of bulls, and protect or manage land area. Project Elephant was initiated in 1992 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) by

966-404: A flehmen response in a calf. Females stay on with the herd, but mature males are chased away. Female Asian elephants sexually mature around the age of 10~15 and keep growing until 30, while males fully mature at more than the age of 25, and constantly grow throughout their life. Average elephant life expectancy is 60 years in the wild and 80 in captivity, although this has been exaggerated in

1104-402: A four to five-year birth interval. During this period, mother to calf communication primarily takes place through temporal means. However, male calves have been known to develop sex pheromone-producing organs at a young age. Early maturity of the vomeronasal organ allows immature elephants to produce and receive pheromones . It is unlikely that the integration of these pheromones will result in

1242-632: A greater understanding of extinctions. Taxonomically, it was first recognized as a distinct species by Robert Kerr in 1792 then classified to its own genus Mammut by Johann Friedrich Blumenbach in 1799, thus making it amongst the first fossil mammal genera to be erected with undisputed taxonomic authority. The genus served as a wastebasket taxon for proboscidean species with superficially similar molar teeth morphologies but today includes 7 definite species, 1 of questionable affinities, and 4 other species from Eurasia that are pending reassessments to other genera. Mastodons are considered to have had

1380-578: A letter dating to 1713, Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon (known also as Lord Cornbury) from New York reported to the Royal Society learned society of Great Britain that in 1705, a large-sized tooth was found near the side of the Hudson River by a Dutch country-fellow and was sold to New York General Assembly member Van Bruggen for a gill of rum, and Bruggen eventually gave it to Cornbury. He then stated that he sent Johannis Abeel,

1518-658: A long and complex paleontological history spanning all the way back to 1705 when the first fossils were uncovered from Claverack , New York in the American colonies. Because of the uniquely shaped molars with no modern analogues in terms of large animals, the species caught wide attention of European researchers and influential Americans before and after the American Revolution to the point of, according to American historians Paul Semonin and Keith Stewart Thomson , bolstering American nationalism and contributing to

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1656-459: A majority known from endocasts , including M. americanum : Phosphatherium esculliei [REDACTED] Numidotherium koholense [REDACTED] Moeritherium lyonsi [REDACTED] Deinotheriidae [REDACTED] Palaeomastodon beadnelli [REDACTED] Asian elephant The Asian elephant ( Elephas maximus ), also known as the Asiatic elephant ,

1794-422: A male in musth, they often retreat to avoid coming in contact with aggressive behaviors. Female elephants have also been seen to communicate with each other through pheromone in urine. The purpose of this type of intersex communication is still being investigated. However, there are clear differences in signaling strength and receiver response throughout different stages of the estrous cycle. The gestation period

1932-467: A mosaic of successional-stage vegetation. Populations inhabiting small habitat fragments are much more liable to come into conflict with humans. Development such as border fencing along the India–Bangladesh border has become a major impediment to the free movement of elephants. In Assam , more than 1,150 humans and 370 elephants died as a result of human-elephant conflict between 1980 and 2003. In

2070-651: A mother Asian elephant allegedly being killed alongside her calf; however, this account is contestable. In 2011 and 2014, two instances were recorded of tigers successfully killing adult elephants; one by a single tiger in Jim Corbett National Park on a 20-year-old young adult elephant cow, and another on a 28-year-old sick adult bull in Kaziranga National Park further east, which was taken down and eaten by several tigers hunting cooperatively. Elephants appear to distinguish between

2208-535: A mount in war, a status symbol , a beast of burden , and an elevated platform for hunting during historical times in South Asia . Asian elephants have been captured from the wild and tamed for use by humans. Their ability to work under instruction makes them particularly useful for carrying heavy objects. They have been used particularly for timber -carrying in jungle areas. Other than their work use, they have been used in war, in ceremonies, and for carriage. It

2346-676: A much younger age in captivity; captive populations are declining due to a low birth and high death rate. The earliest indications of captive use of Asian elephants are engravings on seals of the Indus Valley civilisation dated to the 3rd millennium BC. Carl Linnaeus proposed the scientific name Elephas maximus in 1758 for an elephant from Ceylon . Elephas indicus was proposed by Georges Cuvier in 1798, who described an elephant from India. Coenraad Jacob Temminck named an elephant from Sumatra Elephas sumatranus in 1847. Frederick Nutter Chasen classified all three as subspecies of

2484-513: A popular cultural icon both in India and the West. A key aspect of conservation is connectivity of the preferred movement routes of Asian elephants through areas with high vegetation cover and low human population density. The World Elephant Day is celebrated annually on 12 August since 2012. Events are organized to divulge information and to engage people about the problems that the Asian elephant

2622-655: A predominantly browsing -based diet on leaves, fruits, and woody parts of plants. This allowed mastodons to niche partition with other members of Proboscidea in North America, like gomphotheres and the Columbian mammoth , who had shifted to mixed feeding or grazing by the late Neogene - Quaternary . It is thought that mastodon behaviors were not much different from elephants and mammoths, with females and juveniles living in herds and adult males living largely solitary lives plus entering phases of aggression similar to

2760-643: A recorder of Albany , New York to dig near the original site of the tooth to find more bones. Abeel reported in a later that he went to the town of Claverack , New York where the original bones were found. American historian Paul Semonin said that the accounts written by Cornbury and Abeel match up with that written by in the July 30, 1705 entry in The Boston News-Letter . The account reported skeletal evidence of an antediluvian (or biblical) " giant " uncovered from Claverack. The femur and one of

2898-542: A second species for Pliomastodon named P. vexillarius based on fossil material from the locality of Elephant Hill in California , determining that it differs from Mammut by differences in the skull and that the etymology of the species name was made in honor of paleontological contributions by the Standard Oil Company of California. In 1933, Childs Frick named the species Mastodon raki from

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3036-617: A spring on the Pomme de Terre River to assemble a mounted skeleton of the " Missouri Leviathan " and briefly exhibited it at St. Louis . After exhibiting the skeleton throughout Europe, he sold the skeleton to the British Museum of Natural History . Richard Owen then properly reassembled the skeleton, and it today is on display there. In 1845, another skeleton was excavated from Newburgh by laborers hired by Nathaniel Brewster initially to remove lacustrine deposits to fertilize

3174-428: A view followed also by George William Featherstonhaugh . Isaac Hays comparatively defended Godman's taxon, which led to a bitter debate regarding the validity of the genus amongst American naturalists. The validities of both Tetracaulodon and Missourium were rejected by Owen in 1842, although he retained the former name informally. By 1869, American paleontologist Joseph Leidy determined that Mastodon americanus

3312-409: A view later followed by Franklin. In 1768, Scottish anatomist William Hunter recorded that he and his brother John Hunter observed that the teeth were not like those of modern elephants. He determined that the "grinders" from Ohio were of a carnivorous animal but believed that the tusks belonged to the same animal. After examining fossils from Franklin and Lord Shelburne, Hunter was convinced that

3450-463: A water source. In China , the Asian elephant survives only in the prefectures of Xishuangbanna , Simao and Lincang of southern Yunnan . As of 2020 , the estimated population was around 300 individuals. As of 2017, the estimated wild population in India account for nearly three-fourths of the extant population, at 27,312 individuals. In 2019, the Asian elephant population in India increased to an estimated 27,000–29,000 individuals. As of 2019 ,

3588-596: A wide variety of behaviours, including those associated with grief , learning, allomothering , mimicry , play, altruism , use of tools , compassion , cooperation , self-awareness , memory , and language . Elephants reportedly head to safer ground during natural disasters like tsunamis and earthquakes, but data from two satellite-collared Sri Lankan elephants indicate this may be untrue. Several students of elephant cognition and neuroanatomy are convinced that Asian elephants are highly intelligent and self-aware. Others contest this view. The pre-eminent threats to

3726-670: Is Z. proavus , which occurs in the Barstovian and Clarendonian stages. M? furlongi from the Black Butte in Oregon also dates back to the Clarendonian stage, but the affinities of the species remains unclear. If it truly is a species of Mammut , then its earliest temporal range is recorded at about 10 Ma. The earliest undisputed appearance of Mammut is of M. nevadanum from Thousand Creek Beds, dating back to

3864-406: Is 18–22 months, and the cow gives birth to one calf , only occasionally twins . The calf is fully developed by the 19th month, but stays in the womb to grow so that it can reach its mother to feed. At birth, the calf weighs about 100 kg (220 lb), and is suckled for up to three years. Once a female gives birth, she usually does not breed again until the first calf is weaned, resulting in

4002-715: Is 5.5–6.5 m (18–21 ft) with the tail being 1.2–1.5 m (3.9–4.9 ft) long. The largest bull elephant ever recorded was shot by the Maharajah of Susang in the Garo Hills of Assam, India , in 1924, it weighed an estimated 7 t (7.7 short tons), stood 3.43 m (11.3 ft) tall at the shoulder and was 8.06 m (26.4 ft) long from head to tail. There are reports of larger individuals as tall as 3.7 m (12 ft). Asian elephants are distributed throughout the  Indian subcontinent  and  Southeast Asia , from  India  in

4140-487: Is a parasitic trematode that uses the Asian elephant as a definitive host. Two other hosts may be the Indian elephant and the greater one-horned rhinoceros. The Asian elephant is listed on CITES Appendix I . It is a quintessential flagship species , deployed to catalyze a range of conservation goals, including habitat conservation at landscape scales, generating public awareness on conservation issues, and mobilisation as

4278-573: Is a species of elephant distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia , from India in the west to Borneo in the east, and Nepal in the north to Sumatra in the south. Three subspecies are recognised— E. m. maximus , E. m. indicus and E. m. sumatranus . The Asian elephant is characterised by its long trunk with a single finger-like processing; large tusks in males; laterally folded large ears but smaller in contrast to African elephants; and wrinkled grey skin. The skin

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4416-522: Is affiliated with the Alliance of Natural Museums of Natural History of Canada [1] and the Virtual Museum of Canada . Mastodon A mastodon ( mastós 'breast' + odoús 'tooth') is a member of the genus Mammut (German for 'mammoth'), which was endemic to North America and lived from the late Miocene to the early Holocene . Mastodons belong to the order Proboscidea ,

4554-1006: Is characterized by particularly long and upward curving upper tusks, reduced or absent tusks on the lower jaw, as well as the shortening of the mandibular symphysis (the frontmost part of the lower jaw), the latter two traits also having evolved in parallel separately in elephantids. Mastodons had an overall stockier skeletal build, a lower-domed skull, and a longer tail compared to elephantids. Fully grown male M. americanum are thought to have been have been 275 cm (9.02 ft) to 305 cm (10.01 ft) at shoulder height and from 6.8 t (6.7 long tons; 7.5 short tons) to 9.2 t (9.1 long tons; 10.1 short tons) in body mass on average. The size estimates suggest that American mastodon males were on average heavier than any living elephant species; they were typically larger than Asian elephants and African forest elephants of both sexes but shorter than male African bush elephants . M. americanum , known as an "American mastodon" or simply "mastodon," had

4692-545: Is considered to be a derived genus of the family because of strong zygodont development. As a family of the Elephantimorpha clade, it is only distantly related to the Deinotheriidae due to major differences in dentition and emergence of adult teeth. The Mammutidae is identified as a monophyletic clade, meaning that it did not leave any derived descendant groups in its evolutionary history. The monophyly of

4830-441: Is especially true of males in musth and of females with young. Gunfire and other similar methods of deterring, which are known to be effective against many kinds of wild animals including tigers, may or may not work with elephants, and can even worsen the situation. Elephants that have been abused by humans in the past often become "rogue elephants", which regularly attack people with no provocation. The demand for ivory during

4968-608: Is extinct and has left no living descendants. He established that it had an overall body form similar to elephants but had molars more similar to hippopotamuses and pigs that did not serve to grind meat. The first species he erected within Mastodon was Mastodon giganteum , giving it the informal name "great mastodon" and writing that that it is designated to the Ohio proboscidean with abundant fossil evidence, equal size but greater proportions to modern elephants, and diamond-shaped points of

5106-550: Is facing. August has been established as the Asian Elephant Awareness Month by zoos and conservation partners in the United States. Karnataka state in India hosts the most Asian elephants of any known area, comprising around 20% of the total population in the country. The distribution of elephants in the state according to one estimate is roughly 38,310 km (14,790 sq mi). In

5244-548: Is not known to affect other mammals. The first surge in Luteinizing hormone is not followed by the release of an egg from the ovaries. However, some female elephants still exhibit the expected mating protocols during this surge. Female elephants give ovulatory cues by utilizing sex pheromones . A principal component thereof, (Z)-7-dodecen-1-yl acetate, has also been found to be a sex pheromone in numerous species of insects. In both insects and elephants, this chemical compound

5382-811: Is ongoing for many of these specimens. There are also whitefish fossils, approximately 2-million-year-old specimens of Coregonus beringiaensis (a giant beaver ), from Ch'ijee's Bluff in the Bluefish Basin on the Porcupine River near Old Crow. The mandate for the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre's activities derives from the Department of Tourism and Culture of the Yukon Territorial Government. The Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre

5520-521: Is recorded in Kenya , Africa and firmly establishes the earliest presence of mammutids in the late Oligocene (~27-24 Ma). The Mammutidae, like other Paleogene proboscideans, was therefore an endemic radiation within the continent akin to other endemic mammals like arsinoitheres , hyracoids , and catarrhine primates plus non-endemics such as anthracotheres and hyaenodonts . In the early Neogene phase of evolution, Eozygodon made an appearance in

5658-670: Is reported that war elephants are still used by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Kachin State in northern Myanmar against Myanmar's military. The KIA use about four dozen elephants to carry supplies. The Asian elephant plays an important part in the culture of the subcontinent and beyond, being featured prominently in the Panchatantra fables and the Buddhist Jataka tales. They play

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5796-471: Is smoother than African elephants and may be depigmented on the trunk, ears or neck. Adult males average 4 tonnes (4.4 short tons ) in weight, and females 2.7 t (3.0 short tons). It is one of only three living species of elephants or elephantids anywhere in the world, the others being the African bush elephant and African forest elephant . Further, the Asian elephant is the only living species of

5934-479: Is the national animal of Thailand and Laos. It has also been declared as the national heritage animal of India. Bones of Asian elephants excavated at Mohenjo-daro in the Indus Valley indicate that they were tamed in the Indus Valley Civilisation and used for work. Decorated elephants are also depicted on seals and were modelled in clay. The Asian elephant became a siege engine ,

6072-403: Is the senior species synonym and listed M. giganteum as a junior synonym. He also listed Mammut , Harpagmotherium , Mastotherium , Missourium , and Leviathan as synonyms of Mastodon . He also noted that M. americanum as a species was highly variable in morphology. In 1902, American paleontologist Oliver Perry Hay listed Mammut as the prioritized genus name given its status as

6210-432: Is used as an attractant to assist the mating process. In elephants, the chemical is secreted through urination and this aids in the attraction of bulls to mate. Once detected, the chemical stimulates the vomeronasal organ of the bull, thus providing information on the maturity of the female. Reproductive signaling exchange between male and female elephants are transmitted through olfactory cues in bodily fluids. In males,

6348-649: The National Geographic magazine, but not as a living elephant in accordance with the rules of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature . These elephants living in northern Borneo are smaller than all the other subspecies, but had larger ears, a longer tail, and straight tusks. Results of genetic analysis indicate that their ancestors separated from the mainland population about 300,000 years ago. A study in 2003, using mitochondrial DNA analysis and microsatellite data , indicated that

6486-526: The African bush elephant and has the highest body point on the head. The back is convex or level. The ears are small with dorsal borders folded laterally. It has up to 20 pairs of ribs and 34 caudal vertebrae . The feet have five nail-like structures on each forefoot, and four on each hind foot. The forehead has two hemispherical bulges, unlike the flat front of the African elephants. Its long trunk or proboscis has only one fingerlike tip, in contrast to

6624-666: The American Museum of Natural History . Other skeletons of Mammut americanum were excavated within the United States in the first half of the 19th century. One of them was collected by American showman Albert C. Koch in what is today the Mastodon State Historic Site at Missouri in 1839. He hypothesized in 1840 that the proboscidean, which he classified as Missourium , was much larger than an elephant, had horizontal tusks plus trunks, and occupied aquatic habitats. He acquired additional fossils from

6762-575: The Clovis culture ) hunted mastodons based on the finding of mastodon remains with cut marks and/or with lithic artifacts. Mastodons disappeared along with many other North American animals, including most of its largest animals ( megafauna ), as part of the end-Pleistocene extinction event around the end of the Late Pleistocene-early Holocene, the causes typically being attributed to human hunting, severe climatic phases like

6900-690: The Coso Mountains in Inyo County , California where skull fossils were recovered. In 1963, J. Arnold Shotwell and Donald E. Russell created another species Mammut (Pliomastodon) furlongi , assigning it to fossils collected from the Juntura Formation of Oregon. The species name was created in honor of Eustace L. Furlong , who made early fossil collections from the western side of the Juntura Basin. The genus Pliomastodon

7038-551: The Irvingtonian to the Rancholabrean (from around 1.6 million to 11,000 years ago), only M. americanum and the newly appearing M. pacificum are recorded, the former having an exceptional level of diversity based on abundant skeletal evidences from the late Pleistocene that is unusual for the typical mammutid fossil record. The following cladogram defines the phylogeny of certain proboscideans,

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7176-618: The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of the Government of India . The project was initiated to protect the Indian elephant and its habitats and to establish dedicated elephant reserves for sustaining elephant populations. The distribution of elephants in Sri Lanka is only two-fifths of what it was in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Due to this decrease, interactions with humans occur much more frequently. During

7314-771: The NGO Elephant Family , Myanmar is the main source of elephant skin, where a poaching crisis has developed rapidly since 2010. The elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) is a member of the Proboscivirus genus, a novel clade most closely related to the mammalian betaherpesviruses . As of 2011, it is responsible for as many as 70 deaths of both zoo and wild Asian elephants worldwide, especially in young calves. In particular, several incidents of calves dying from elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus have been recorded in Myanmar. The elephant schistosome

7452-523: The Old Crow region which revealed many fossils belonging to mammals that are much rarer in Pleistocene fossil assemblages, including giant beaver ( Castoroides ohioensis ) , broad-fronted moose ( Cervalces latifrons ) , western camel ( Camelops hesternus ) , American mastodon ( Mammut americanum ) , scimitar cat ( Homotherium serum ) , and short-faced bear ( Arctodus simus ). Radiocarbon dating

7590-663: The Snake Creek Formation of western Nebraska , naming it in honor of William Diller Matthew . He also erected another species M. merriami from the Thousand Creek Formation in Nevada , which was eventually synonymized with Zygolophodon proavus . Osborn in 1926 followed up for Mastodon matthewi by establishing the genus Pliomastodon for the species based on cranial differences from " Miomastodon " (= Zygolophodon ). In 1930, Matthew erected

7728-482: The Younger Dryas , or some combination of the two. The American mastodon had its last recorded occurrence in the earliest Holocene around 11,000 years ago, which is considerably later than other North American megafauna species. Today, the American mastodon is one of the most well-known fossil species in both academic research and public perception, the result of its inclusion in American popular culture. In

7866-535: The molars are greater in number and closer together in Asian elephants. Some bulls may also lack tusks; these individuals are called "makhnas", and are especially common among the Sri Lankan elephant population. A tusk from an 11 ft (3.4 m) tall elephant killed by Sir Victor Brooke measured 8 ft (2.4 m) in length, and nearly 17 in (43 cm) in circumference, and weighed 90 lb (41 kg). This tusk's weight is, however, exceeded by

8004-533: The musth exhibited by modern elephants. Mammut achieved maximum species diversity in the Pliocene , though the genus is known from abundant fossil evidence in the Late Pleistocene . Mastodons for at least a few thousand years prior to their extinction coexisted with Paleoindians , who were the first humans to have inhabited North America. Evidence has been found that Paleoindians (including those of

8142-551: The " pseudo-elephant ", or " animal incognitum " (shortened as " incognitum "), was an animal species separate from elephants that might have also been the same as the proboscideans found in Siberia. He concluded his article with the opinion that although regrettable to philosophers, humanity should be thankful to heaven that the animal, if truly carnivorous, was extinct. In 1785, Reverend Robert Annan wrote an account recalling an event in which workers discovered bones in his farm near

8280-456: The 1970s and 1980s, particularly in East Asia , led to rampant poaching and the serious decline of elephants in both Africa and Asia. In Thailand , the illegal trade in live elephants and ivory still flourishes. Although the amount of ivory being openly sold has decreased substantially since 2001, Thailand still has one of the largest and most active black markets for ivory seen anywhere in

8418-544: The 19th century before eventually being reclassified into distinct genera. In addition to still-valid species names, several synonymous or dubious species names ultimately belonging to different genera were erected within the Americas as well throughout the 19th century. Also, many species names erected based on M. americanum remains were erected. As a result, M. americanum has many synonymous names. The issue of synonymous species names were especially apparent in

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8556-423: The African elephants which have two. Hence, the Asian species relies more on wrapping around a food item and squeezing it into its mouth, rather than grasping with the tip. Asian elephants have more muscle coordination and can perform more complex tasks. Cows usually lack tusks ; if tusks—in that case, called "tushes"—are present, they are barely visible and only seen when the mouth is open. The enamel plates of

8694-430: The Americas. He stated that the bones that Buffon previously described from North America were not of elephants but another animal that he referred to as the " mastodonte ," or the " animal of Ohio ." He reinforced the idea that the extinct "mastodon" was an animal close in relationship to elephants that differed by jaws with large tubercles. He suggested that "mammoth" and "carnivorous elephant" be discontinued as names for

8832-555: The Asian elephant in 1940. These three subspecies are currently recognised as valid taxa . Results of phylogeographic and morphological analyses indicate that the Sri Lankan and Indian elephants are not distinct enough to warrant classification as separate subspecies. Three subspecies are recognised: Sri Lankan elephants are the largest subspecies. Their skin colour is darker than of E. m. indicus and of E. m. sumatranus with larger and more distinct patches of depigmentation on ears, face, trunk and belly. The skin color of

8970-492: The Asian elephant is one of the most feared wild animals, even though they are less deadly than other local animals such as venomous snakes (which were estimated to claim more than 30 times more lives in Sri Lanka than elephants). As a whole, Asian elephants display highly sophisticated and sometimes unpredictable behaviour. Most untamed elephants try to avoid humans, but if they are caught off guard by any perceived physical threat, including humans, they will likely charge. This

9108-467: The Asian elephant is the only living member, is the closest relative of the extinct mammoths . The two groups are estimated to have split from each other around 7 million years ago. Elephas originated in Sub-Saharan Africa during the Pliocene and spread throughout Africa before expanding into the southern half of Asia. The earliest Elephas species, Elephas ekorensis , is known from

9246-527: The Asian elephant is used as an ingredient in Chinese medicine as well as in the manufacture of ornamental beads. The practice has been aided by China's State Forestry Administration (SFA), which has issued licences for the manufacture and sale of pharmaceutical products containing elephant skin, thereby making trading legal. In 2010, four skinned elephants were found in a forest in Myanmar; 26 elephants were killed by poachers in 2013 and 61 in 2016. According to

9384-564: The Asian elephant today are the loss, degradation and fragmentation of its habitat, which leads to increasing conflicts between humans and elephants. Asian elephants are poached for ivory and a variety of other products including meat and leather . The demand for elephant skin has risen due to it being an increasingly-common ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine. In some parts of Asia, people and elephants have co-existed for thousands of years. In other areas, people and elephants come into conflict, resulting in violence, and ultimately,

9522-681: The Big Bone Lick locality. He stated that the tusks were similar to elephants while the molars were completely different because they were covered with enamel and had a double row of high conical cusp processes. Kerr was unsure about the taxonomic affinities of the molars and referenced that Thomas Pennant supposed that they belong to an unknown species within the genus Elephas , giving the common name "American elephant." German naturalist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach also followed up with more taxonomic descriptions of fossil proboscideans in 1799. The first fossil species, recovered from Germany,

9660-658: The Blancan, and M. raki specifically is thought to not be synonymous with M. pacificum . M. americanum (known popularly as an "American mastodon" or simply "mastodon") is also stratigraphically recorded first from the early Blancan of the Ringold Formation , Washington . The age of the formation where the mammutid specimen was found dates to about 3.75 Ma. It is also known from multiple other Blancan sites such as Fish Springs Flat in Nevada. From

9798-587: The Borneo elephant population is derived from stock that originated in the region of the Sunda Islands , and suggests that the Borneo population has been separated from the other elephant populations of southeast Asia since the Pleistocene . The following Asian elephants were proposed as extinct subspecies, but are now considered synonymous with the Indian elephant: The genus Elephas , of which

9936-581: The Early Pliocene of East Africa, around 5–4.2 million years ago. The oldest remains of the genus in Asia are known from the Siwalik Hills in the Indian subcontinent, dating to the late Pliocene, around 3.6-3.2 million years ago, assigned to the species Elephas planifrons . The modern Asian elephant is suggested to have evolved from the species Elephas hysudricus , which first appeared at

10074-535: The Hudson River in New York in fall of 1780. The workers found four molars in addition to another that was broken and thrown away. They also uncovered bones, including vertebrae that broke shortly thereafter. Annan expressed his confusion at what the animal could be but speculated based on its "grinders" that it was carnivorous in diet. He speculated also that it was probably extinct due to some catastrophe within

10212-601: The Indian elephant is generally grey and lighter than that of E. m. maximus but darker than that of E. m. sumatranus . A potential fourth subspecies, the Borneo elephant ( Elephas maximus borneensis ), occurs in Borneo 's northeastern parts, primarily in Sabah ( Malaysia ), and sometimes in Kalimantan ( Indonesia ). It was proposed by Paules Deraniyagala in 1950, who described an elephant in an illustration published in

10350-672: The Mammutidae makes it differ from the Elephantida, where the Gomphotheriidae is paraphyletic (or ancestral to more derived descendant groups in the cladistic sense) in relation to the derived elephantoid families Stegodontidae and Elephantidae (elephants, mammoths, and relatives). Although the separation of the Mammutida and Elephantida is strongly supported based on morphological differences, their origins within

10488-765: The National Park has faced issues due to encroachment and over-exploitation. In India, the National Board of Wildlife recommended to allow coal mining in Dehing Patkai National Park in April 2020. The decision raised concerns between students and environmental activists who launched an online campaign to stop the project. About half of the global zoo elephant population is kept in European zoos, where they have less than half (18.9 years)

10626-401: The age of 12–15. Between the ages of 10 and 20 years, bulls undergo an annual phenomenon known as " musth ". This is a period where the testosterone level is up to 100 times greater than non-musth periods, and they become aggressive. Secretions containing pheromones occur during this period, from the paired temporal glands located on the head between the lateral edge of the eye and the base of

10764-534: The beginning of the Early Pleistocene around 2.6 million years ago, and is primarily known from remains of Early- Middle Pleistocene age found on the Indian subcontinent. Skeletal remains of E. m. asurus have been recorded from the Middle East : Iran , Iraq , Syria , and Turkey from periods dating between at least 1800 BC and likely 700 BC. In general, the Asian elephant is smaller than

10902-468: The bones were discovered by Native Americans (probably Abenaki hunter-warriors). He came to the conclusion that the femur and tusk belonged to an elephant while the molars (or cheek teeth) came from a separate giant hippopotamus . In Shawnee tradition, the proboscideans roamed in herds and were hunted by giants, who both eventually died out. The accounts told by the Shawnee individuals in 1762 are

11040-525: The breeding season, males will temporarily join female groups to mate. Asian elephants have a large and well-developed neocortex of the brain, are highly intelligent and self-aware being able to display behaviors associated grief, learning, greeting etc. The Asian elephant is the largest living land animal in Asia . Since 1986, the Asian elephant has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List , as

11178-456: The calf's mother or by one of the exhibition mates. The sex ratio of stillbirths in Europe was found to have a tendency for excess of males. Young elephants are captured from the wild and illegally imported to Thailand from Myanmar for use in the tourism industry; calves are used mainly in amusement parks and are trained to perform various stunts for tourists. The calves are often subjected to

11316-517: The displacement of elephants. The main causes of human-elephant conflict includes the growing human population, large-scale development projects and poor top-down governance . Proximate causes includes habitat loss due to deforestation , disruption of elephant migratory routes, expansion of agriculture and illegal encroachment into protected areas. Destruction of forests through logging , encroachment, slash-and-burn , shifting cultivation , and monoculture tree plantations are major threats to

11454-401: The ear. The aggressive behaviors observed during musth can be attributed to varying amounts of frontalin (1,5-dimethyl-6,8-dioxabicyclo[3.2.1]octane) throughout the maturation process of bulls. Frontalin is a pheromone that was first isolated in bark beetles but can also be produced in the bulls of both Asian and African Elephants. The compound can be excreted through urine as well as through

11592-462: The earliest Miocene (~23-20 Ma) of Africa after Losodokodon . Eozygodon was subsequently succeeded by Zygolophodon by the early Miocene, and the latter dispersed into Eurasia by around 19-18 million years ago, and into North America by the middle Miocene. The dispersal of mammutids between Africa and Eurasia may have occurred multiple times. The Mammutidae eventually went extinct in Africa prior to

11730-518: The early Hemphillian , or 8.0-7.1 Ma. Historically, North American paleontologists considered that North American Zygolophodon evolved into Mammut in an endemic fashion while European workers generally thought that Mammut was a Eurasian immigrant that replaced North American Zygolophodon during the Miocene or Pliocene . Current evidence supports an endemic origin of North American Mammut from Zygolophodon without later migration because of

11868-518: The eastern Himalaya in northeast India, they regularly move up above 3,000 m (9,800 ft) in summer at a few sites. In Bangladesh , some isolated populations survived in the south-east Chittagong Hills in the early 1990s. In Malaysia 's northern Johor and Terengganu National Park, two Asian elephants tracked using satellite tracking technology spent most of their time in secondary or "logged-over forest"; they travelled 75% of their time in an area less than 1.5 km (0.93 mi) away from

12006-785: The first half of the 19th century. Today, the genera that include species formerly classified into Mastodon include Gomphotherium ( G. angustidens , G. pyrenaicum , G. productum , G. libycum , G. subtapiroideum , G. steinheimense ), Zygolophodon ( Z. turicensis , Z. proavus ), Cuvieronius ( C. hyodon ), Stegodon ( S. elephantoides ), Stegolophodon ( S. latidens , S. cautleyi ), Anancus ( A. avernensis , A. sivalensis , A. perimensis ), Tetralophodon ( T. longirostris ), Choerolophodon ( C. pentelici ), Stegomastodon ( S. mirificus ), Rhynchotherium (" R. " euhypodon ), Stenobelodon ( S. floridanus ), and Notiomastodon ( N. platensis ). In 1830, American naturalist John Davidson Godman created

12144-467: The genus Elephas . It is the second largest species of elephant after the African bush elephant. It frequently inhabits grasslands ,  tropical evergreen forests , semi-evergreen forests, moist  deciduous forests , dry deciduous forests and dry thorn forests. They are herbivorous, eating about 150 kg (330 lb) of vegetation per day. Cows and calves form groups, while males remain solitary or form "bachelor groups" with other males. During

12282-472: The genus Mammut should be carefully used for non-North American species. Mammut is the type genus of the Mammutidae , the sole family of the elephantimorph clade Mammutida (the other elephantimorph clade is Elephantida ). The Mammutidae is characterized by molars with zygodont-form crests, which have remained morphologically conservative throughout the evolutionary history of the family. Mammut

12420-441: The genus Tetracaulodon plus its species T. Mastodontoideum based on what he determined to be differences between it and Mastodon based on the skull and dentition. Both Richard Harlan and William Cooper pointed out that except for the tusks, all other characteristics of the specimens were consistent with M. giganteum . They therefore argued that there was no reason to assume that the tusks were not just individual variations,

12558-419: The global wild population was estimated at 48,323–51,680 individuals. Asian elephants are crepuscular . They are classified as megaherbivores and consume up to 150 kg (330 lb) of plant matter per day. Around 50 to 75% of the day is devoted to eating. They are generalist feeders, and are both grazers and browsers . They are known to feed on at least 112 different plant species, most commonly of

12696-670: The globe. American statesman Thomas Jefferson stated his thoughts on Notes on the State of Virginia (published by 1785) that the fossil proboscideans may have been carnivorous, still exist in the northern parts of North America, and are related to mammoths whose remains were found in Siberia. Jefferson referenced the theory of American social degeneracy by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon , countering it by using extant and extinct animal measurements, including those of "mammoths," as proof that North America faunas were not "degenerative" in size. Semonin pointed out that social degeneracy

12834-607: The gradual appearance of Mammut morphologies and a lack of solid evidence that Mammut sensu stricto (in a strict sense) ever dispersed outside of North America. M. matthewi is recorded from the late Hemphillian to early Blancan stages. Mammutid specimens of the Hemphillian and Blancan had typically previously been assigned to M. matthewi , but this is seemingly the result of overreliance on stratigraphic positions to define taxa. M. vexillarius , M. raki , and M. cosoensis are definitively recorded from

12972-429: The growls of larger predators like tigers and smaller predators like leopards ; they react to leopards less fearfully and more aggressively. Reproduction in Asian elephants can be attributed to the production and perception of signaling compounds called pheromones . These signals are transmitted through various bodily fluids. They are commonly released in urine but in males they are also found in special secretions from

13110-452: The historic plus taxonomically correct name Mammut over Mastodon . He continued prioritizing Mammut in 1945, stating that people were generally aware of its taxonomic priorities over Mastodon and that people had refused to use it. He stated that he did not want to either but reluctantly set aside his personal preferences to follow taxonomic rules. In 1921, Osborn created the species name Mastodon matthewi based on distinct molars from

13248-471: The increase in frontalin during musth heightens their sensitivity to the (Z)-7-dodecen-1-yl acetate produced by female elephants. Once perceived by receptors in the trunk, a sequence of ritualistic behaviors follow. The responses in males vary based on both the stage of development and the temperament of the elephant. This process of receiving and processing signals through the trunk is referred to as flehmen. The difference in body movements give cues to gauge if

13386-558: The last Eurasian mammutid, became extinct during the earliest Pleistocene , around 2.5-2 million years ago. The oldest evidence of mammutids in North America is of a fragmentary molar of Zygolophodon sp. from Massacre Lake , Nevada, dating to 16.5-16.4 Ma (during the Hemingfordian stage of the North American land mammal ages (NALMA)). The only definitively defined species of Zygolophodon from North America

13524-439: The late Paleogene remain uncertain. One hypothesis asserts that the Elephantimorpha is monophyletic if the primitive Elephantiformes genus Phiomia was truly ancestral to both the Elephantida and Mammutida. An alternate hypothesis suggests that the Elephantimorpha is diphyletic because Phiomia is ancestral to gomphotheres while Palaeomastodon is ancestral to mammutids. The earliest undisputed mammutid genus Losodokodon

13662-469: The late Miocene. Mammut as currently defined sensu lato (in a broad sense) is most likely polyphyletic (comprising several unrelated groups). This is because the inclusion of Eurasian mammutid species into Mammut implies that they share a common origin with North American Mammut , but this relationship has been doubted. As a result, these Eurasian species may belong to either other existing mammutid genera or entirely new genera. "Mammut" borsoni ,

13800-423: The latter case, when an elephant bounces the tip of the trunk, it creates booms which serve as threat displays. Elephants can distinguish low-amplitude sounds. Rarely, tigers have been recorded attacking and killing calves, especially if the calves become separated from their mothers, stranded from their herd, or orphaned. Adults are largely invulnerable to natural predation. There is a singular anecdotal case of

13938-444: The leadership of older adult females, or matriarchs . It is now recognized that cows form extensive and very fluid social networks, with varying degrees of associations between individuals. Social ties generally tend to be weaker than in African bush elephants. Unlike African elephants, which rarely use their forefeet for anything other than digging or scraping soil, Asian elephants are more agile at using their feet in conjunction with

14076-612: The locality in 1801, where he first sketched the fossils then purchased excavation privileges and full ownership of the fossils from Masten and borrowed a loan from the American Philosophical Society (APS) in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . In addition to the first skeleton, the second was excavated using a mill-like device to drain a 12 ft (3.7 m) deep marl pit. Peale assembled a complete skeleton in his Philadelphia Museum in 1804, and its exhibit

14214-490: The locality of Truth or Consequences , New Mexico based on differences on the heel and M 3 tooth from M. americanus , otherwise having proportions similar to it. In 1936, Chester Stock published the species name Pliomastodon nevadanus based on fossils from the Thousand Creek Beds of northwestern Nevada. In 1937, John R. Schultz created the species name Pliomastodon? cosoensis , naming it after

14352-451: The male is interested in breeding with the female that produced the secretion. A bull that is ready to breed will move closer to the urine and in some cases an erection response is elicited. A bull that is not ready to breed will be timid and try to dissociate themselves from the signal. In addition to reproductive communication, chemosensory signaling is used to facilitate same-sex interactions. When less developed males detect pheromones from

14490-464: The median life span of conspecifics (41.6 years) in protected populations in range countries. This discrepancy is clearest in Asian elephants: infant mortality is more than two to three times that seen in Burmese timber camps, and adult survivorship in zoos has not improved significantly in recent years. One risk factor for Asian zoo elephants is being moved between institutions, with early removal from

14628-473: The molars. The naturalist also created the second species name Mastodon angustidens and gave it the informal name "narrow-toothed mastodon," diagnosing it as having narrower molars, smaller sizes compared to M. giganteum , and range distributions in Europe and South America. Cuvier also erected several other species of Mastodon originating from other continents in 1824. Despite Cuvier's genus name being younger than multiple other genus names, Mastodon became

14766-428: The most commonly used genus name for the 19th century. " Mastodon " was riddled with major taxonomic problems since species now determined as belonging to other proboscidean genera were classified to Mastodon on the basis of similar dentitions to that of " Mastodon giganteum " (= Mammut americanum ), effectively making it a wastebasket taxon . Various fossil proboscidean species were classified into Mastodon in

14904-764: The mother tending to have additional adverse effects. Another risk factor is being born into a zoo rather than being imported from the wild, with poor adult survivorship in zoo-born Asians apparently being conferred prenatally or in early infancy. Likely causes for compromised survivorship is stress and/or obesity . Foot problems are commonly observed in captive elephants. These are related to lack of exercise, long hours standing on hard substrates, and contamination resulting from standing in their dung. Many of these problems are treatable. However, mistreatment may lead to serious disability or death. Demographic analysis of captive Asian elephants in North America indicates that

15042-514: The neighboring fields. They were observed by a large amount of spectators and uncovered relatively complete fossil evidence of M. americanum . The skeleton was exhibited in New York City and other New England towns then was acquired by John Collins Warren for study. After Warren's death in 1856, the skeleton was sent to Warren's family but was traded to Harvard Medical School for John Warren's skeleton. The "Warren mastodon", under

15180-409: The oldest genus name, making Mastodon , Tetracaulodon , and Missourium classified as junior synonyms. He also established M. americanum as the type species. The genus name Mastodon was subsequently abandoned by many American paleontologists in favor of Mammut within the early 20th century. In 1942, American paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson said that for his study, he prioritized

15318-526: The oldest known documented interpretations of the " Ohio " fossils, although the traditions may have had been told for generations. In 1767, Peter Collinson credited Irish trader George Croghan for having sent him and Benjamin Franklin fossil evidence of the mysterious proboscideans, using them for his studies. He concluded that the peculiar grinders (the molars) were built for herbivorous diets of branches of trees and shrubs as well as other vegetation,

15456-1018: The order Malvales , as well as the legume , palm , sedge and true grass families. They browse more in the dry season with bark constituting a major part of their diet in the cool part of that season. They drink at least once a day and are never far from a permanent source of fresh water. They need 80–200 litres of water a day and use even more for bathing. At times, they scrape the soil for clay or minerals. Cows and calves move about together as groups, while bulls disperse from their mothers upon reaching adolescence. Bulls are solitary or form temporary "bachelor groups". Cow-calf units generally tend to be small, typically consisting of three adults (most likely related females) and their offspring. Larger groups of as many as 15 adult females have also been recorded. Seasonal aggregations of 17 individuals including calves and young adults have been observed in Sri Lanka's Uda Walawe National Park . Until recently, Asian elephants, like African elephants, were thought to be under

15594-472: The past. Generation length of the Asian elephant is 22 years. Asian elephants have a very large and highly developed neocortex , a trait also shared by humans , apes and certain dolphin species. They have a greater volume of cerebral cortex available for cognitive processing than all other existing land animals. Results of studies indicate that Asian elephants have cognitive abilities for tool use and tool-making similar to great apes . They exhibit

15732-414: The population has declined by at least 50 per cent over the last three elephant generations, which is about 60–75 years. It is primarily threatened by loss of habitat , habitat degradation , fragmentation and poaching . Wild Asian elephants live to be about 60 years old. While female captive elephants are recorded to have lived beyond 60 years when kept in semi-natural surroundings, Asian elephants die at

15870-454: The population is not self-sustaining. First year mortality is nearly 30 per cent, and fecundity is extremely low throughout the prime reproductive years. Data from North American and European regional studbooks from 1962 to 2006 were analysed for deviations in the birth and juvenile death sex ratios. Of 349 captive calves born, 142 died prematurely. They died within one month of birth, major causes being stillbirth and infanticide by either

16008-529: The population of Asian elephants in Yunnan was estimated at around 300 individuals. As conflicts between humans and wild elephants have emerged around protected areas in the last years, the prefecture of Xishuangbanna built food bases and planted bananas and bamboo to create a better habitat. In Thailand, Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary and Tham Than Lot National Park are protected areas hosting around 250–300 elephants, according to figures from 2013 . In recent years

16146-608: The previously established species " Elephas americanus " and argued that the species was different from elephants and mammoths and cannot be found amongst living animals due to extinction from catastrophism . The proboscidean species was subject to several other species names given by other taxonomists within the earliest 18th century as well as the genus name Harpagmotherium by the Russian naturalist Gotthelf Fischer von Waldheim in 1808. In 1806, Cuvier wrote multiple extended research articles on fossil proboscideans of Eurasia and

16284-493: The promotion of the "mastodon" skeleton made it a symbol of the strength of American nationalism and that "mammoth" as a term became associated with gigantism. Decades later, the museum bankrupted, and the first skeleton's specimens were sold to some German spectators in around 1848, who eventually sold it to Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt in Germany where it is now displayed. The second skeleton's specimens landed eventually at

16422-508: The request of American paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn , was purchased by the American financier J. P. Morgan for $ 30,000 in 1906 and donated to the American Museum of Natural History where it is exhibited today. In the 1790s, the " American incognitum " was subject to research by multiple taxonomists. Scottish writer Robert Kerr erected the species name Elephas americanus in 1792 based on fossil tusks and "grinders" from

16560-595: The same order as elephants and mammoths (which belong to the family Elephantidae ). Mammut is the type genus of the extinct family Mammutidae , which diverged from the ancestors of modern elephants at least 27–25 million years ago, during the Oligocene . Like other members of Mammutidae, the molar teeth of mastodons have zygodont morphology (where parallel pairs of cusps are merged into sharp ridges), which strongly differ from those of elephantids. In comparison to its likely ancestor Zygolophodon , Mammut

16698-407: The shoulder and 4.0 t (4.4 short tons) in weight, while cows are smaller at about 2.40 m (7.9 ft) at the shoulder and 2.7 t (3.0 short tons) in weight. Sexual dimorphism in body size is relatively less pronounced in Asian elephants than in African bush elephants; with bulls averaging 15% and 23% taller in the former and latter respectively. Length of body and head including trunk

16836-478: The species and that it receive a new genus name instead. Cuvier said that for " mastodonte ," he derived the name's etymology (compound μαστός ( mastós , "breast") + ὀδούς ( odoús , "tooth") from Ancient Greek to mean "nipple tooth," since he thought that it expressed the characteristic form of the teeth. In 1817, the French naturalist officially established the genus name Mastodon , reaffirming that it

16974-543: The species was distinguished from other animals of the prehistoric world based on the unusual shapes of the large molars. The genus name "Mammut" refers to the German translation for "mammoth." The naming of the genus Mammut in 1799 makes it the second or third genus to be recognized with taxonomic authority given that Megalonyx had been named the same year. French naturalist Georges Cuvier also described known fossil proboscidean species back in 1796, although his account

17112-511: The survival of elephants. Human–elephant conflicts occur when elephants raid crops of shifting cultivators in fields, which are scattered over a large area interspersed with forests. Depredation in human settlements is another major area of human–elephant conflict occurring in small forest pockets, encroachments into elephant habitat, and on elephant migration routes. However, studies in Sri Lanka indicate that traditional slash-and-burn agriculture may create optimal habitats for elephants by creating

17250-568: The taxonomic status of M. furlongi , specifically whether or not it was a variant of sexual dimorphism of Z. proavus . Some authors have considered M. nevadanum to be synonymous with M. matthewi while others had retained validity of the species name. Several mammutid species outside of North America are classified to Mammut (or " Pliomastodon "), namely M. borsoni , M. obliquelophus , M. zhupengensis , and M. lufugense (possibly synonymous with M. obliquelophus ). Recent research such as that of von Koenigswald et al. in 2023 warned that

17388-581: The teeth both dissolved before they could be further observed, however. In 1739, a French military expedition under the command of Charles III Le Moyne (known also as "Longueil") explored the locality of " Big Bone Lick " (located in what is now the US state of Kentucky ) and gathered fossil bones and teeth there. The French naturalist Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton examined the fossil collection brought by Longueuil and compared it with specimens of extant elephants and Siberian mammoths in 1762. Daubenton said that

17526-613: The temporal glands of the bull, allowing signaling to occur. During musth, increased concentrations of frontalin in the bull's urine communicate the reproductive status of the bull to female elephants. Similar to other mammals, hormone secretion in female elephants is regulated by an estrous cycle . This cycle is regulated by surges in Luteinizing hormone that are observed three weeks from each other. This type of estrous cycle has also been observed in African Elephants but

17664-429: The temporal glands. Once integrated and perceived, these signals provide the receiver with information about the reproductive status of the sender. If both parties are ready to breed, reproductive ritualic behavior occurs and the process of sexual reproduction proceeds. Bulls will fight one another to get access to oestrus cows. Strong fights over access to females are extremely rare. Bulls reach sexual maturity around

17802-778: The trunk for manipulating objects. They can sometimes be known for their violent behavior. Asian elephants are recorded to make three basic sounds: growls, squeaks and snorts. Growls in their basic form are used for short distance communication. During mild arousal, growls resonate in the trunk and become rumbles while for long-distance communication, they escalate into roars. Low-frequency growls are infrasonic and made in many contexts. Squeaks come in two forms: chirpings and trumpets. Chirping consists of multiple short squeaks and signals conflict and nervousness. Trumpets are lengthened squeaks with increased loudness and are produced during extreme arousal. Snorts signal changes in activity and increase in loudness during mild or strong arousal. During

17940-541: The trunk, ears, or neck. The epidermis and dermis of the body average 18 mm (0.71 in) thick; skin on the dorsum is 30 mm (1.2 in) thick providing protection against bites, bumps, and adverse weather. Its folds increase surface area for heat dissipation. They can tolerate cold better than excessive heat. Skin temperature varies from 24 to 32.9 °C (75.2 to 91.2 °F). Body temperature averages 35.9 °C (96.6 °F). On average, when fully-grown, bulls are about 2.75 m (9.0 ft) tall at

18078-419: The weight of a shorter tusk of about 6 ft (1.8 m) in length which weighed 100 lb (45 kg), and there have reportedly been tusks weighing over 150 lb (68 kg). Skin colour is usually grey, and may be masked by soil because of dusting and wallowing . Their wrinkled skin is movable and contains many nerve centres. It is smoother than that of African elephants and may be depigmented on

18216-433: The west, to  Borneo  in the east, and Nepal  in the north, to Sumatra  in the south. They inhabit grasslands, tropical evergreen forests , semi-evergreen forests, moist deciduous forests , dry deciduous forests and dry thorn forests, in addition to cultivated and secondary forests and scrublands. Over this range of habitat types elephants occur from sea level to over 3,000 m (9,800 ft). In

18354-556: The world. Tusks from Thai-poached elephants also enter the market; between 1992 and 1997 at least 24 male elephants were killed for their tusks. Up to the early 1990s, Vietnamese ivory craftsmen used exclusively Asian elephant ivory from Vietnam and neighbouring Lao and Cambodia. Before 1990, there were few tourists and the low demand for worked ivory could be supplied by domestic elephants. Economic liberalisation and an increase in tourism raised both local and visitors' demands for worked ivory, which resulted in heavy poaching. The skin of

18492-534: Was an offensive concept to Anglo-American naturalists and that the American proboscidean fossils were used as political tools to inspire American nationalism and counter against the theory of American degeneracy. In 1799, laborers recovered a thighbone while digging a marl pit at John Masten's farm in Newburgh , New York, and subsequent excavations were observed by a crowd of over a hundred people. American painter and exhibitionist Charles Willson Peale visited

18630-400: Was described as belonging to the newly erected species Elephas primigenius ? (now known as Mammuthus primigenius ). The second was what he considered to be an unknown "colossal land monster of the prehistoric world," considering it to be the "mammoth." He created the genus Mammut and erected the species Mammut ohioticum based on fossil bones dug up from Ohio in North America. He said that

18768-456: Was later published in 1799. He considered that the remains uncovered from Siberia were true "mammoths" that had similar dentitions to extant elephants but had some morphological differences. He mentioned the fossil remains that were brought back by Longueil from Ohio back in 1739 and several researchers from previous decades who noted the unusual molars and thought that they belonged to different animals like hippopotamuses. He followed recognition in

18906-679: Was open first to invited members of the American Philosophical Society on December 24 then to the general public on December 25 for an exhibit admission fee in addition to the general admission fee. The special exhibition attracted thousands of visitors, and the skeleton became a US national symbol. Charles Peale's son Rembrandt Peale took the skeleton to Europe used to promote the fossil proboscidean and have it used as support for Jefferson's final rebuttals against Buffon's arguments for supposed inferiority of American faunas. Author Keith Stewart Thomson argued that

19044-522: Was synonymized with Mammut while Miomastodon was synonymized with Zygolophodon by Jeheskel Shoshani and Pascal Tassy in a 1996 appendix, a view that was followed by other authors in later years. In 2019, Alton C. Dooley Jr. et al. established Mammut pacificus based on fossils collected from the Diamond Valley Lake in Hemet , California. They also stated that M. oregonense is

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