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Description

Representation of elephants with their Mahouts at work.

ca. 1690

Artist

Anonymus

Historical Description

Elephants are the largest living land animals. They are a family from the order of proboscideans. There are three recent species: the African elephant, which inhabits the largely open landscapes of sub-Saharan Africa, the forest elephant, which is also native to Africa but is largely restricted to tropical rainforests, and the Asian elephant, which occurs in southern and south-eastern Asia and uses a variety of landscapes. The natural range of the Asian elephant used to extend from eastern to southeastern and southern Asia, and possibly all the way to the western part of the continent. Today, it is highly fragmented and is limited to the Indian subcontinent as well as to individual parts of the back of India, Sri Lanka and some of the Greater Sunda Islands or the southernmost part of China. The animals inhabit both more open landscapes and more densely wooded areas. The African elephant once colonized almost the entire African continent, but today it also occurs in highly fragmented habitats south of the Sahara. The northern limit of its distribution is in the south of Sudan. From here, the habitat extends across East and West Africa to South Africa. The way of life of today's elephants is comparatively well researched. The animals spend most of their time feeding, which can account for around two thirds to three quarters of their active phase. Sleep usually only lasts a few hours. Elephants are generally sociable animals that live in complex social communities.