ELEPHANTS SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION
TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidae
Family: Elephantidae
Genus: Loxodonta (African) & Elephas (Asian)
Species: africana (African) & maximus (Asian)
BACKGROUND
Fifty to sixty million years ago, ancestors of today's elephants lived in a wide variety of environmental settings that ranged in climate and temperature. During this time, mammals the size of a pig showed preliminary features that would eventually lead to what we see as the defining attributes of elephants. The closest living relatives to elephants today are manatees, dugongs, and hyraxes which all live in very different niches.
It is estimated that over time there have been close to 350 species of proboscideans but due to natural selection and environmental shifts they have long gone extinct. Proboscidae are thought to be relatively adaptable considering the wide variety of environments they have been found to occupy. Their make-up allows for them to be successful in living in different climates but due to their large size, they lack quick adaptions that allow for survival in times of rapid climate change.
ELEPHANTS TODAY
The Asian elephant is more closely related to the mammoth and actually originated in Africa. As it spread to parts of Asia where it is found today many subspecies branched off that still live in various countries. Males are mostly tuskless which is a result of selection pressures caused by humans hunting elephants for ivory.
The African elephant is regarded as the "newest" elephant on the scene. They are larger than the Asian elephant and have notably larger ears. An elephants ears serve as a cooling mechanism. By circulating blood through the ear's membrane body temperature is reduced. African elephants require larger ears since they live in a warmer climate.
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