proboscidean
laelaps | May 14, 2010Image via Discovery Press Web.In his monumental 1945 monograph on mammal classification, paleontologist G.G. Simpson appraised the living species of elephants to be "relicts of a dying group." The living African (Loxodonta) and Asian (Elephas) elephants were all that remained of the past diversity of proboscideans, and human activities put even these large mammals at risk of extinction. Poaching and human development on land bordering game preserves continue to put elephants at risk, and the two-hour BBC special The Secret Life of Elephants, airing this Sunday on Animal Planet in the US,…
laelaps | October 18, 2007
This is one of the better shots of an African Bush Elephant (Loxodonta africana) that I was able to get during my trip to the Disney Animal Kingdom Park last year (the ride that lets you view the elephants jolts you so much it's hard to get a decent shot). This variety of elephant, distinct from the Indian Elephant (Elephas maximus), is the larger of what are perhaps two species of elephant inhabiting Africa at present. The second species is the African Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), although the splitting of the forest group into a new species is still controversial. Regardless of…