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Elephant
If there is contest as to the physical presence of any animal in the South African veld, the title must go to the elephant. They are the single largest living land mammal, the largest in recorded history being an Angolan male, who measure in at a staggering 11,000 kg - roughly as much as ten small cars!
There are three species of elephant alive in the world today, including the African bush and forest elephants, and Indian elephant. They have notably long gestation periods, at 22 months at a time (the longest of any animal in the world), and calves are born quite large, weighing 120 kilograms. Owing to their natural size and extremely thick hides, experts concur that elephants in the wild have nearly no natural predators. In certain cases, lions may take calves or weak individuals in a hunt, and elephants traditionally have human poaching as a concern.
Physically, an elephant is immediately recognised for the trunk which extends from the front of its face. Known as a probiscus, this multifunction apendage is the elephants most versatile tool, putting it in reach with tree-top food, acting as a water spray for bathing, snorkel for swimming, and as a social tool to convey meaning such as warnings or greetings (much like human waving). In addition to these, the trunk is also a means to the end of the elephant’s extremely developed sense of smell, so advanced it can be used to locate nearby friends, approaching predators, and food sources.
Tusks are an elephant’s upper incisor teeth, and grow at a rate of 18 cm per year in adults. Also used for a multitude of every day tasks, these teeth are the object of desire for poachers and the illegal ivory trade - elephant poaching, particularly, is a notable trend, as these large, slow moving animals are also so slow to breed again. Typically living to around 70 years in natural circumstances, the outcry against the hunting of these long lived beasts is quite strong.
Elephant skin measures in at around 2.5 centimeters thick around most areas of its body, an extremely tough hide. Asian elephant skin is also usually accompanied by a greater amount of hair than that of an African elephant, especially among calves. With this extremely tough and heavy skin a constant burden in the baking African heat, elephants bath regularly, and wallow, in order to regulate their core body temperature. With this, elephants flap their ears in hot weather as a fanning technique to keep cool.