preview

Bush Elephant Research Paper

Decent Essays

The African Bush elephants are found in eastern and southern Africa. Some of the areas with the highest densities of the Bush elephant is: Tanzania, South African, Kenya, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia. The African Bush elephant is terrestrial. The Bush elephant usually live in the grasslands, semi-deserts and the bush lands. They also clear out forest and turn them into more of grassland, by knocking down the trees. The climate that the Bush elephant normally lives in is dry and hot. Their thin hairs and ears help them stay cool. Another way that they stay cool is that their hides become more permeable in the heat. Scientists has performed research on 13 elephants (African and Asian), they measure the release of heat and moisture. What they have found was that their skin opens up at air temperatures as low at 10°C to 12°C, this is what allows them to perspire. Elephants are different than most mammals, that sweats through glands connected to pores, elephants only have pores between their toes. Elephants do not sweat (Phillips, 1992). By all of the skin being permeable they lose more …show more content…

The Bush elephant has to make annual migrations to find suitable conditions, these migrations can be up to several hundred kilometers. The Bush elephants usually migrate from a permeant water source at the beginning of the rainy season, then return during the dry season (once what water holes begins to dry up). When the water is scarce the elephants will dig holes in water beds using their trucks, feet and tusks. Once enough water emerges to use their trunk to suck up the water. They usually prefer to be near water sources. The Bush elephant needs 200-300 kg of food a day and 160 liters of fresh water a day. They are herbivorous. The diet of the Bush elephant consist of: roots, bark, twigs, shrubs, roots, herbs, grass, tree foliage and some

Get Access