The African Elephant
Year: 1922
Type: article
Abstract: PART I IN common with other species of animals whose range is great, comprising most of the continent south of the desert zone (Ethiopia), the African elephant exhibits considerable local variation as regards size, form, especially of the ears, curvature of the tusks, and character of the ivory, etc. Hitherto, live examples available for study have been too few, and dead material too meagre, to permit of any satisfactory definition of local types or races by the systematic zoologist, but such attempts as have been made in this direction have so far been based upon the characters of the external ears, as being thought to be the most convenient for the purpose.According to one writer on Zoology (Matchie), who had, however, little but museum material for examination, the four most diverse types of ear are as follows: (i) Cameroons or West Africa, nearly oval; (2) Addo Bush or East Cape, somewhat square; (3) Masai or East African, small and triangular (equilateral); (4) Abyssinian or Sudan, large and triangular (acute).Ear characters, however, really amount to very little as a guide to any useful classification. Two Distinct Spedes.A careful study of this subject and a good many years' experience with elephants in the Congo, Cameroons and Nigerian forests, compared with similar experiences in more open regions in the Uele (Congo), Sudan and Uganda, enables me to suggest a much more definite and practical grouping of the African elephants, viz.under (a) Forest, and (b) Bush or grass animals.The former group would contain No. 1 of the above types or races, and probably No. 2, the latter Nos. 3 and 4.These two great groups are quite distinct, and their individual herds do not mix or mingle, the forest elephant rarely if ever coming far out into the open country and vice versa.Only
Source: African Affairs
Author: CUTHBERT CHRISTY
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4246331740