African forest elephant

Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis ) Cow with cub

The forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis ) is a Elefantenart from the kind of African elephants ( Loxodonta ). Named after the African elephant (Loxodonta africana ) and the Asian elephant 's third largest land animal in the world has been traditionally regarded as a subspecies of the larger African elephants. The status of forest elephants as distinct species has long been discussed to this could be clarified by genetic studies in 2002 and 2010. According to studies at Harvard Medical School, the forest elephants have genetically separated to three to five million years ago. Further DNA studies show, however, that the relationships of African elephants are complex. How can the West African elephants neither the forest nor the savanna elephant attribute.

The forest elephant is much smaller than its relatives from the savannah with up to 2.40 meters shoulder height. Forest elephants are jungle dwellers and live in the rainforests of West and Central Africa from Senegal to Uganda, including the Congo Basin. Here you will also play an important role in spreading the seeds of a variety of trees.

In these tropical rainforests even smaller elephants were big game hunters and locals spotted that were 1906 as dwarf elephants (Loxodonta pumilio ) described, but were not officially recognized by the Zoology as a species. It could either be a subspecies or Kümmerformen of forest elephants. In order to demonstrate the existence of these animals as a distinct species currently trying to cryptozoology.