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African bush elephant
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|African bush elephant|
The African bush elephant is the larger of the two species of African elephants. They are the largest living terrestrial animal on the earth. The average of their weight is 15,000 to 22,000 lbs, their length is 20 feet, and their height is 10 feet. They move at about 4 mph, but if they need to hurry, than their speed is about to 25 mph. African bush elephant are always in a group. Today, in Africa, people kill the elephant so the African bush elephant population dropped 300,000 to 10,000.
The African bush elephant is the largest living terrestrial animal on earth. This elephant characterized is largest head and neck is high; big ears that can cover their shoulders; a huge and muscular trunk; two tusks that are well developed in both female and male; and short tail. They have gray but little brownish skin, and its wrinkled all over. Also they have four nails in frontfeet and three in hindfeet. 
The African bush elephant length is 19.7 to 24 feet(6-7.3 meters), height is 9.8 to 11.5 feet (3-3.5 meters) at the shoulder, and a weight is 15,000 to 22,000 pound (7,000-10,000 kg) They move at 4 mph (6 km/h), but if they feel scared or upset they can run by 25 mph (40 km/h). They use communication by seismic vibrations at infrasound frequencies.
However, the largest one lives in Angola in 1955, weight was 27,000 lbs, 13.8 feet high. This one is now in the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. 
The female elephant is tend to get pregnant at the age of 9 to 12. They can reproduce until 55 to 60 years old. Their pregnancy period is about 22 months(630-660 days), this is the longest pregnancy period of any mammal. The average labor is 11 hours, At the birth, the elephants weight is around 200 to 250 pounds(90-115 kg), then they gain 2 to 2.5 lbs(1kg) a day. The mother protect the young baby elephants with the other adult females, and baby elephants are raise by part of the family group. 
Most African elephants live in the east forests of central and south Africa. They live in groups, and the group is made of females and calves. The males are driven out of the group when they reach puberty and live in bachelor herds. Mature males are solitary and only join a family unit to mate. African elephants are vegetarian. They eat grass, fruit, flowers, and branches. They use their trunk to grab the food and put it in their mouths. 
The San Diego Zoo has a program that helps elephants in Swaziland. In 2008, Kenya made a conservation program of African bush elephant. Reason that Kenya made this program is because, elephants need a large area to live, but in Kenya the elephants have loss their land, because of settlements. So they try to help the elephants.  In 2006, people killed over 100 elephants, and carried out during the late spring and summer of 2006, in the vicinity of Zakouma National Park. Because of this, elephant population was 300,000 in 1970, to 10,000 today. The government has proven insufficient to stop the poaching. 
- The Nature Conservancy by Robert Hardholt.
- Animal Corner by Corner MJB
- Wikipedia by Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia