2. ELEPHANT
Alex.K.George
BSF-10-002

3. ELEPHANT –A KEYSTONE SPECIES
1. Types of elephant
2. Elephant’s impact on ecology
3. Threats to elephants

4. ELEPHANTS
• A very large mammal of the
order Proboscides, having a trunk, and two
large ivory tusks jutting from the
upper jaw(incisors).
Three species of elephant
1. The African bush elephant
2. The African forest elephant
3. The Asian elephant

5. TYPES OF ELEPHANTS
THE ASIAN ELEPHANT
Elephas maximus
• enormous domed head
with relatively small ears.
• Only one trunk finger.
• five toes on the front feet
and four on the back.
• males have tusks and the
females have tushes
• More body hairs.
• gestation period is
eighteen to twenty-two
months.
THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT
Loxodonta africana
• have a straight back,
enormous ears.
• two trunk fingers.
• four toes on the front feet
and three on the back.
• Both male and female
have tusks.
• Less body hairs.
• Gestation period is
twenty to twenty-three
months.

6. ELEPHANT’S IMPACT ON ECOLOGY
• Elephants play a vital role in the
ecosystem they inhabit.
• The Ecological Impact of the
Elephant is Priceless.
• Have both positive and negative
effects on other specie.
• Elephants make paths, that are
used by other animals and
humans and eventually even been
converted to roads.
• Their paths act as firebreaks and
rain water conduits.

7. ELEPHANT’S IMPACT ON ECOLOGY
• Elephants act as seed dispersers
by their faecal matter.
• Dung beetles and termites both
eat elephant faeces.
• Modify their habitat by
converting savannah and
woodlands to grasslands.
• Elephants can provide water for
other species by digging water
holes in riverbeds.

8. THREATS TO ELEPHANTS
1. HUNTING
2. HABITAT LOSS
 HUNTING
• Ivory trade is unique to the
species.
• Larger, long-lived, slow-breeding
animals, like the elephant, are
more susceptible to overhunting
than other animals.
• Decrease in male to female ratio.

9.  HABITAT LOSS
• Elephants need massive tracts of
land.(140kg-food)
• Cultivation and constructions on
their corridor.
• Quickly destroying all the vegetation
in an area, eliminating all their
resources.
• Human elephant conflicts
• Conflicts kill an average of 150
elephants per year.
20th century, elephants numbered
between 5 and 10 million, but
hunting and habitat destruction had
reduced their numbers to 400,000 to
500,000 by the end of the century.

10. CONSERVE ELEPHANT
TO
SUSTAIN DIVERSITY

11. THANK YOU…….