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African Elephant & Asian Elephant: 10 very important differences
An elephant is just and elephant…right? Well technically yes, but there are some very important differences between the African and Asian Elephant. Just as there are some very important differences between us humans and the other great apes.
So what differences are there?
Some differences are widely known such as the shape of the ears. African elephants have large ears, which resemble a map of Africa while Indian elephants have smaller ears resembling a map of India.
But there are other differences, which you may or may not be aware of.
1. Height: Both are pretty big, but the largest African elephants can grow up to 4 metres tall whereas Asian elephants reach no more than 3.5 metres.
2. Weight: Asian elephants can grow to weigh 3000-6000kg but the African elephant can make this seem lightweight with the larger animals reaching an impressive 7500kg
3. Skin: Although not the most obvious difference the skin of an African elephant tends to be wrinkled whereas the skin of an Asian elephant is smoother. Skin colour is often different
4. Feet: If you get close enough to check out an elephants feet you’ll notice that the African Elephant has just 3 toes on its hind legs while the Asian elephant has four toes on its hind legs.
5. Trunk: African elephants have two “lips” on the end of their trunk, one at the top, one at the bottom. However the Asian elephant has just one of these lips , which is on top.
6. Tusks: In Asian elephants it is usually only the males, which have tusks. If a female Asian elephant does have tusks they are called “tushes”, but are barely visible, only being seen when the female opens her mouth. In the African elephant however both males and females grow large tusks.
7. Hair: Elephants don’t look hairy from a distance but get close and you can see they do actually have hair. Of the two though it is the Asian elephant, which is the hairiest.
8. Arch of the Back: An African elephant has a concave back meaning there is an indentation on its back. The Asian elephant however has a convex shaped back meaning it has a “hump” on its back.
9. Highest point: The hump on the back of the Asian elephant makes this its highest point but on the African elephant, the highest point is located at the shoulder.
10. Ribs: As you can imagine elephant ribs are pretty big but it is the number, which differs between the two species. An Asian elephant has 20 pairs of ribs whereas the African elephant has 21 pairs.
The African elephant is definitely larger but that by no means any more impressive than the Asian elephant. One thing they both have in common is the threat to their survival and they need all the help they can get so why not do your bit and Adopt an Elephant today!
