Animal - Elephant eating from a tree - Rhodesian postcard c.1970s

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  Elephant Eating from a Tree 
• Publisher: Pictorial Publishing Co. (Pvt) Ltd., Salisbury [Rhodesia now Zimbabwe]
• Postally used: no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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^{Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :}

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^{African elephants are elephants of the genus Loxodonta.[2] The genus consists of two extant species: the African bush elephant, L. africana, and the smaller African forest elephant, L. cyclotis. Loxodonta (from Greek λοξός, loxós: 'slanting, crosswise, oblique sided' + ὀδούς, odoús: stem odónt-, 'tooth') is one of two existing genera of the family Elephantidae.[1] Fossilremains of Loxodonta have been found only in Africa, in strata as old as the middle Pliocene. However, sequence analysis of DNA extracted from fossils of an extinct elephant species undermines the validity of the genus.[3]}

^{One species of African elephant, the bush elephant, is the largest living terrestrial animal, while the forest elephant is the third-largest. Their thickset bodies rest on stocky legs, and they have concave backs.[4]} Their large ears enable heat loss.^[5] The upper lip and nose form a trunk. The trunk acts as a fifth limb, a sound amplifier, and an important method of touch. African elephants' trunks end in two opposing lips,^[6] whereas the Asian elephant trunk ends in a single lip.^[6] In L. africana, males stand 3.2–4.0 m (10.5–13.1 ft) tall at the shoulder and weigh 4,700–6,048 kg (10,362–13,334 lb), while females stand 2.2–2.6 m (7.2–8.5 ft) tall and weigh 2,160–3,232 kg (4,762–7,125 lb);^[7] L. cyclotis is smaller with male shoulder heights of up to 2.5 m (8.2 ft).^[8] The largest recorded individual stood 3.96 m (13.0 ft) at the shoulder and weighed 10.4 tonnes (10.2 long tons; 11.5 short tons).^[9][10] The tallest recorded individual stood 4.21 m (13.8 ft) at the shoulder and weighed 8 tonnes (7.9 long tons; 8.8 short tons).^[11]

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^{While feeding, elephants use their trunks to pluck at leaves and their tusks to tear at branches, which can cause enormous damage to foliage.[6]} A herd may deplete an area of foliage depriving other herbivores for a time. African elephants may eat up to 450 kg (992 lb) of vegetation per day, although their digestive system is not very efficient; only 40% of this food is properly digested.^[26] The foregut fermentation used by ruminants is generally considered more efficient than the hindgut fermentationemployed by proboscideans and perissodactyls;^[27] however, the ability to process food more rapidly than foregut fermenters gives hindgut fermenters an advantage at very large body size, as they are able to accommodate significantly larger food intakes.^[28]