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Africa's Giant Tuskers

Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2014 4:38 pm
by 100ponder
Hi all, I trust all had a wonderful Christmas and great festivities !

Now, back to TUSKERS !

I am sure some of you will have noticed that I use an elephant’s tuft of hair on his tail tip as one of the ID factors - now, while researching tuskers throughout Africa I naturally included the African Forrest elephant as well. One of the differentiating features is their tails. On the below photo [ Internet search for CAR tuskers ] you can observe that the Forrest elephant have a longer tail with a large fluffy tail tuft dragging on the ground.

Judging by the hollowed temples a person can surmise that this is a moderately old tusker but his tail shows no sign of diminishing as normally observed on Savannah elephant.

Gerrie.

Image

Africa's Giant Tuskers

Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2014 4:44 pm
by 100ponder
Sorry Aat, my mistake - for obvious reasons this thread cannot be called "Tuskers of Africa".

Mods, can one of you please change the topic to "Africa's Giant Tuskers" ?

Gerrie.

Re: Africa's Giant Tuskers

Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2014 5:00 pm
by Toko
Interesting \O The bushy tail looks very nice, love it O:V

Re: Africa's Giant Tuskers

Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2014 5:07 pm
by 100ponder
Thanks Toko.

Gerrie.

Re: Africa's Giant Tuskers

Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2014 6:08 pm
by Richprins
^Q^ ^Q^ ^Q^ 100p!


Those elephant are quite a bit smaller than savannah subspecies? Still huge! :shock:

Re: Africa's Giant Tuskers

Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2014 8:18 am
by 100ponder
You are correct RP - Forrest elephant bulls are reported to average between 8 & 9 feet shoulder height with cows mostly below 8 feet. Their tusks also grow more or less straight down to the ground and normally curve in slightly - clearly an evolutionary adaptation to the environment they live in.
Also interesting is the broad "cross member" from where the tusks grow as can be seen on the photo below.


Forrest elephant bull in Benin :-

Image

Again, note the large tuft of tail hail hanging at his heels.

Re: Africa's Giant Tuskers

Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2014 9:01 am
by 100ponder
While searching for elephant info related to Kenya I stumbled upon this cow in Tsavo East National Park. Those are probably the longest kalashes [ cow tusks ] I will ever see on an elephant cow !

Image

Re: Africa's Giant Tuskers

Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2014 9:42 am
by Richprins
:shock: :shock: :shock:

Re: Africa's Giant Tuskers

Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2014 10:15 am
by Toko
O/\ O/\ O/\

Re: Africa's Giant Tuskers

Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2014 11:09 am
by Mel
Gigantic! lol ^Q^ ^Q^ ^Q^