Most of us are familiar with African and Indian elephants, in fact the African and the Asian elephants diverged from a common ancestor some 7.6 million years ago.
There are actually three species of elephant in existance today - the Indian (or Asian) elephant the African Bush (or Savanna) elephant, and the African forest elephant.
However, these last two are usually just grouped together and known as the 'African elephant'.
The African Bush elephant is the largest of all elephant species and ranges over much of the savanna zone south of the Sahara. They usually live in grasslands, marshes and beside lakes.
The African Forest elephant inhabits the dense African rain forests of central and western Africa, although occasionally they roam the edges of forests, thus overlapping the savanna elephant home ranges and hybridizing.
1. The Sri Lankan elephant is found only on the island of Sri Lanka and is the largest sub-species of the Asian elephant.
2. The Indian elephant makes up the bulk of the Asian elephant population. The mainland Asian can be found in 11 Asian countries, from India to Indonesia and including western China. They prefer forested areas and transitional zones, between forests and grasslands, where greater food variety is available.
3. The Sumatran elephant is found only on the island of Sumatra, usually in forested regions and partially wooded habitats.
4. In 2003, a further subspecies was identified on Borneo. Named the Borneo pygmy elephant, it is smaller and tamer than any other Asian elephants. It also has relatively larger ears, longer tail and straighter tusks.
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Photo care of http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/qi/8880869/QI-Quite-interesting-facts-about-ears.html and http://www.elephant-facts.com/elephant-ears-skin-and-legs/
Based on an article from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant
Images care of http://www.elephanttag.org/General/range_asia.html





























