Elephant

Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae:Elephas and Loxodonta,^[1] with the third genus Mammuthus extinct.^[2] Three livingspecies of elephant are recognized: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephantand the Indian or Asian elephant;^[3] although some group the two African species into one^[4] and some researchers also postulate the existence of a fourth species in West Africa.^[5] All other species and genera of Elephantidae are extinct. Most have been extinct since the last ice age, although dwarf forms of mammoths might have survived as late as 2,000 BCE.^[6] Elephants and other Elephantidae were once classified with other thick-skinned animals in a now invalid order, Pachydermata.

Elephants are the largest living land animals on Earth today.^[7] The elephant's gestationperiod is 22 months, the longest of any land animal.^[8] At birth, an elephant calf typically weighs 105 kilograms (230 lb).^[8] They typically live for 50 to 70 years, but the oldest recorded elephant lived for 82 years.^[9] The largest elephant ever recorded was shot inAngola in 1974. ^[10][11] This male weighed about 10,900 kg (24,000 lb) with a shoulder height of 3.96 metres (13.0 ft).^[12] The smallest elephants, about the size of a calf or a large pig, were a prehistoric species that lived on the island of Crete during thePleistocene epoch.^[13]

Elephants are a symbol of wisdom in Asian cultures and are famed for their memory and intelligence; their intelligence level is thought to be comparable to that of dolphins^{[14][15][16][17]} and primates.^[18][19] Aristotle once said the elephant was "the beast which passeth all others in wit and mind."^[20] The word "elephant" has its origins in the Greek ἐλέφας, meaning "ivory" or "elephant".^[21]

Healthy adult elephants have no natural predators,^[22] although lions may take calves or weak individuals.^[23][24] They are, however, threatened by human intrusion and poaching.

Intelligence

With a mass just over 5 kg (11 lb), elephant brains are larger than those of any other land animal. A wide variety of behaviours associated with intelligence have been attributed to elephants, including those associated with grief, making music, intuition, art, altruism,allomothering, play, use of tools,^[68] compassion and self-awareness.^[69] Elephants are believed to rank equally in terms of intelligence with cetaceans^[14][16][17] and nonhuman primates.^[14][18][19] The elephant's brain is similar to that of humans in terms of structure and complexity; the elephant brain exhibits a gyral pattern more complex and with more numerous convolutes, or brain folds, than that of humans, primates or carnivores, but less complex than cetaceans.^[70] However, the cortex of the elephant brain is "thicker than that of cetaceans" and is believed to have as many cortical neurons (nerve cells) and cortical synapses as that of humans, which exceeds that of cetaceans.^[71]

Strenght

In brute strength, elephants are the strongest mammals and the strongest land animals.Elephants can weigh up to 6,350kg and they can carry up to 9,000kg, the weight of 130 adult humans.