L. pumilio

The African pygmy elephant (Loxodonta pumilio) is an endangered subspecies of African Elephant. It is disputed if this subspecies of elephant is a morph of another African Elephant, the African Forest Elephant, but it is still considered a separate subspecies considering that many cryptologists believe that the African pygmy elephant and the African Forest Elephant split apart on the evolutionary chain about 300,000 years ago. The difference between these two subspecies is that the African pygmy elephant has a smaller bone structure than the African Forest Elephant and has straighter tusks than the African Forest Elephant. The African pygmy elephant lives in forested areas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and has recently grown in number due to the illegalization of elephant hunting in Africa and international protection with hunting patrols.

Description

Although the African pygmy elephant is considered "small", it is still a subspecies of the largest land animal on earth, the African Bush Elephant. On average, it stands between 8 and 11 ft tall, and in length is between 16 and 19 ft from head to tail. On average, the African pygmy elephant weighs between 6,000 and 11,000 lbs.

The African pygmy elephant has smaller ears than other African Elephant subspecies due to the fact that it lives in more forested areas and doesn't get overheated easily. They also have straighter tusks which is a distinction between it and the African Forest Elephant. Their tusks are also whiter than the African Bush Elephant because it eats more leaves so it doesn't need to dig up roots a lot and it also doesn't have a lot of sun which can make the tusks more brown in color.

Social behavior

The African pygmy elephant lives in family herds which have a strong bond with each other and will defend the babies at all costs. If a member in their family group dies, all of the group members show emotion and sometimes even mourn the dead by smelling and picking up the bones of the dead member. The group is lead by the eldest female who directs the group and cares for the young. Every year in November and December, the group banishes the male elephants in the group because of the danger when the male elephants go into musth, which is a period when male elephant's bodies fill with testosterone which makes them extremely dangerous.

Range

The African pygmy elephant ranges throughout the forested regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They tend to be nomads and don't tend to stay in one area for a long time. The African pygmy elephants tend to travel by rivers so they can have a regular amount of water every day and by rivers there are a lot of edible plants that the African pygmy elephant will eat. The reason why the African pygmy elephants are endangered is because the African pygmy elephant is in an area of Africa where the illegal animal trade is a big business which includes elephant ivory.

Conservation

Since the early 1900's the African pygmy elephant has been hunted for its ivory. By the 1970s the African pygmy elephant was on the brink of extinction but with international support and the illegalization of the hunting of elephants in Africa, the numbers of the African pygmy elephant have grown by more than 5,000 individuals. There are about 5,400 individuals left in the wild with none in captivity due to the fact that they live longer lives in the wild than in captivity. In 1970 there were less than 300 individuals left in the world but after 40 years of work they have grown in number but are still being poached and losing habitat at an alarming rate. The poaching rate of the African pygmy elephant is about 80 elephants a year but every year they have about 70 babies.