The elephant is rightfully considered the largest animal living on land. Its dimensions excite the imagination, since a person is just short in comparison with him. However, even among these animals there are those who are clearly superior in size to their counterparts. Therefore, let's go on a short cognitive walk and find out: how much does the largest elephant in the world weigh? Where does he live? And what interesting secrets does it hide?
Descendants of the ancient giants
The history of the origin of elephants goes back to those distant times when a great cooling was slowly approaching the earth. If you believe the latest research, the first elephant-like were born about 1.6 million years ago. They were an accidental genetic error - a mutation that forever divided mastodons into two separate species.
Moreover, over the years, elephant-like also succumbed to evolutionary changes. They formed three separate subspecies. Namely mammoths, Indian and African elephants. The first, unfortunately, could not survive to this day. But the other two are now walking along the lands we are familiar with. But the most curious thing is that over the course of all these long years they have not practically changed.
Indian and African elephant: who is bigger?
Back in the last century, scientists were confident that all elephants are the same, regardless of the region in which they live. However, more recent studies have proven that this is not true. In fact, the largest elephant is African. An animal from the Black Continent overtakes its Asian relative both in body weight and in height.
It should also be noted that the African elephant is also divided into two large subspecies: savannah and forest. In this case, the first is larger. It follows that the largest elephant in the world is the one that lives on the expanses of the African savannah. He is the owner of the title "the largest land animal on the planet."
A few figures: how much does an adult elephant weigh?
We will start, probably, with the smallest representative of the elephant family - the Indian, or, as it is also called, the Asian elephant. This animal lives in Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand, India, Vietnam and China. On average, males of this species grow up to 2.5-3 m in height, and their weight ranges from 4.0-4.5 tons. Females are much lower than their gentlemen - they rarely grow more than 2.4 m and weigh about 2-2.5 tons.
The African forest elephant is in many ways similar to its Indian relative. This is especially true of its proportions. So, males of this species grow up to 3 m in height, however, today you rarely see such strong-haired people. On average, forest elephants reach 2.6 m, and their weight ranges from 2.5-3 tons. Females have approximately the same body proportions and are only slightly inferior to their gentlemen.
As for the savannah subspecies, then he is truly the largest elephant on the planet. These giants can grow up to 4 meters in height, and their maximum weight varies between 5-6 tons. The length of their body reaches 6-7 meters. At the same time, females, like other subspecies, are much smaller than their gentlemen.
The largest elephant in the world: who is he?
If you believe the old archives, the largest was an elephant, caught by hunters in Angola in the 19th century. Its weight was a little less than 12.5 tons, and each tusk weighed at least 50 kilograms. However, given the limitation of the incident, it is rather difficult to assert the veracity of these documents.
But the official data suggests that the largest elephant is Yoshi. That is the name of the 32-year-old African giant living in the Safari Park near the city of Romat Gan. The weight of this animal is 6 tons, and its height is 3.7 meters. At the same time, the elephant is still quite young, and therefore there is a high probability that Yosi will still grow up over the next ten years.
