Which type of elephant is in the picture?
Of the two species of elephants, the Asian elephant is the smaller one with correspondingly smaller ears and shorter tusks. Most people notice the difference in the ears first, noting that the African elephant has ears that are shaped like the continent of Africa. The head is also shaped a bit differently with the Asian elephant having two domes on top.
There are two subspecies of African elephants: savannah and forest.
There are four subspecies of Asian elephants: Sri Lankan, Indian, Sumatran, and Borneo.
More Info:
www.defenders.org
What are your thoughts on this subject?
61 Comments
Nina Kamwene
Folks, I am Kenyan and we have two types of elephants. The ones by Mt Kenya where I was born, are large and red because of the soil. The ones by Mt. Kilimanjaro are grey, because of the soil and are smaller. Another fact, African elephants have tusks for both males and females. Yes, the African elephant's ears are shaped like the continent of Africa, and yes, they are fierce and very difficult to tame or train, as such; you will see 'domesticated' elephants in Asia and zoos but very rarely, an African one. Please help save this majestic mammal. Tell Asia, especially China not to buy tusks.
204
Nov 28, 2016 6:41AM
Ian Swindale
Nina Kamwene you are 100% right about the horrific ivory trade. What makes it worse - well at least here in South Africa - is that some of the poaching gangs are being aided etc by the very people there to ensure the elephants are not poached - game park rangers. It's similar with the rhinos. I actually wonder if by the time my grandchildren are grown up and in their 20s whether there will be any wild rhino left
50
Feb 27, 2019 12:29PM
Claire Mitchell
Nina Kamwene. That you very much for the info. Greatly appreciated!
34
Mar 2, 2019 1:42PM
Vaughan Smith
Great comment by Nina. As an African also, I share her grave concern over the poaching of elephant, rhino and the pangolin, all to satisfy the irrational superstitions of certain Eastern cultures. Japan's thinly-disguised hunting of whales is another shocking example. Elephant have destructive eating habits, ranging over wide areas, tearing down trees to eat just a small part & them moving on to the next, so they need a large area to support a herd. This brings them into increasing conflict with humans as the two habitats encroach on each other. Botswana has just announced its intention to revive commercial hunting and even culling of its national herd of 130,000 elephant, about a third of the total in Africa. So not only poaching but just human population growth pose threats to this beautiful and intelligent species, as well as to others.
31
Mar 5, 2019 4:13AM
Kitty White
We humans need to be more considerate of this earth. We need to learn to live in harmony with all Gods creatures and stop the killing.
25
Mar 3, 2019 3:45PM
Adele Baker
Thank you Nina for your very informative narrative! I too am very sad that certain animals may become extinct Way
18
Mar 3, 2019 8:16PM
Lindsay Fussell
Very well said, Nina Kamwene,
9
Mar 3, 2019 3:00PM
Barri Weinberg
Actually, it is the opposite. It is clearly an Asian Elephant BECAUSE of the bumps on top of it's head.
9
May 10, 2016 7:29PM
joshtcouture
African elephants have larger ears to fan themselves.
9
Oct 12, 2016 1:59PM
Eileen Dunn
Nina Kamwene.
Thank you.
8
Mar 3, 2019 3:09PM
Bank-Robber
At least it was an elephant!!!
0
Jun 17, 2022 4:03PM
Armadillo
Claire Mitchell, that makes two of us.
0
Jan 1, 2022 6:44PM
Glynis Rix
Being South African, I had to know this!
0
Oct 26, 2021 1:17PM
Irene Townsend
Linda Spreng, But there do and don't care what happens to the baby, Chinese just for Ivory. sickening
1
Apr 28, 2021 7:40AM
Irene Townsend
Nina Kamwene, You'd be lucky to tell China not to buy tusks, that is one country that will ignore whatever and do what it likes and if you don't agree will threaten you. But if China and the asian countries would stop paying thousands of dollars for an oversided fingernails, as that's what they are then you might get the chance to save the elephants, but until then Chinese government will do nothing to stop it.
1
Apr 28, 2021 7:38AM
Nikki Proctor
Another fact that you can tell the difference between African and Asian (Indian) elephants is the size of their ears. African elephants have ears that are very large almost three times larger. We need to put a ban on tusks from Africa like it happened before the recent government stopped the ban because they could see the profit of taxing elephant tusks.
1
Apr 7, 2021 2:45AM
Coral Harvey
Thank you. I got the answer right. A full and interesting explaination of the two sub sources of African elephants, Savannah and Forest and the four subspieces of Indian elephants Sumatran , Borneo ,Indian and Shri Lankan and Sumatran.
0
Feb 17, 2021 5:30AM
Janet Graham
Read "The Elephant Whisperer". Such a wonderful true story of a man (Lawrence Anthony) who saved a herd in kwaZuluNatal, South Africa. He also saved many zoo animals in the middle east from death by starvation when one of the many wars there threatened just such a thing.
1
Sep 15, 2020 8:43AM
Effren Hernandez
Nina Kamwene, The Chinese and I don't see eye-to-eye over this very subject.
1
Apr 23, 2020 6:26PM
Todd Van Dell
That elephant's ear in that picture sure looked like the African continent to me. D'oh.🙄🙄🙄😑😑😑
Nothing like starting a quiz with a wrong answer.
1
Jan 23, 2020 11:35PM
Jim Adams
Know your Asian Elephant by its tiny, tiny ears.
0
Jan 9, 2020 11:54PM
Linda Spreng
Nina Kamwene, Thank you for a wonderful comment. These creatures must be saved from man(un)kind. Until the ivory trade got out of hand, it never occurred to me that anybody would kill an animal for ivory. Besides, anyone who has ever seen a baby elephant would be heartless to take its mom or dad from them.
6
Nov 14, 2019 6:15PM
Rita Colette Flaherty
Johnny Gio, therefore you are an elephant,,,,,,Rita.Flaherty
0
Nov 1, 2019 3:15AM
jack patti go
Missed it, and should have known it!!
1
Oct 2, 2019 12:34AM
Johnny Gio
MY EARS ARE SHAPED LIKE THE CONTINENT OF AFRICA..
4
Aug 3, 2019 1:14PM
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