Elephant

Volume 1
Article 9
Issue 2 Elephant Newsletter No. 2

5-1-1978

Elephantine Animals
Dale J. Osborn
Brookfield Zoo

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Recommended Citation
Osborn, D. J. (1975). Elephantine animals. Brookfield Bison, a newsletter of the Chicago Zoological Society, 10(5), 1-4. Rpt. In
Elephant, 1(2), 17-19. Doi: 10.22237/elephant/1491234045

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Open Access Journals at DigitalCommons@WayneState. It has been accepted for
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Elephantine Animals
Cover Page Footnote
Reprinted with permission from the "Brookfield Bison," Vol. 10, No. 5, 1975

This article is available in Elephant: https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/elephant/vol1/iss2/9

 Conservation Measures Recommended: To combat the major threat of habitat destruction,
specific reserves should be established for the Asian elephant. As a first step,
surveys are needed to identify the largest remaining discrete populations and action
should then be taken to minimize or halt fragmentation of these key populations. This
could be achieved by the creation of special, managed reserves (often incorporating
existing parks and reserves) based on the total seasonal range requirements of the
elephant population. Where this is impossible, forest corridors should be set aside
at the very least to safeguard routes of major seasonal movements. Such action is only
feasible if a multiple-use ethic towards land management is adopted involving compromise
between conflicting demands of land use by humans and elephants (1).

Remarks: For description of animal see (3).

References:

1. Olivier, R.C.D. 1977. Distribution and conservation status of the Asian

elephant (Klephas maximus Linn.). Oryx, (in press).
2. Olivier, R.C.D. (in prep.). On the ecology and behavior of the Asian elephant
(Elephas maximus Linn.). - with particular reference to Malaya and Sri Lanka.
3. Walker, E.P. 1975. Mammals of the World. The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Baltimore and London, 1500 pp.

The following two articles by D. J. Osborn were reprinted, with permission,

from the "Brookfield Bison", Vol. 10, No. 5, 1975 and Vol. 9, No. 7, 1974 respectively
(see references 373 and 372).

ELEPHANTINE ANIMALS piercing hard shells of nuts. The Elephant Louse (Haematomy-
by Dale J. Osborn zous elephantis) is a sucking louse with a tubular head forming a
kind of beak and is a parasite of elephants in Africa and the
A great many animals bear names borrowed from other East Indies. There are special Elephant Ticks and Elephant
totally unrelated species. Examples are Zebra Finch, Bullfrog, Bot Flies, but they are lacking in elephantine features.
Kangaroo Rat, Lion Fish and Swallow Tail Butterfly. A The Elephant Hawk Moth, Deilephila elpenor, the most
commonly used prefix for vernacular as well as scientific names beautiful of all European hawk moths, was so named from the
of many diverse forms of animals is "elephant."
Large size and any resemblance to the trunk or tusks
are features that usually recall the name elephant in the animal
kingdom.
The largest shark is the Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus)
which can grow to 60 feet and second largest is the Elephant, or
Basking, Shark (Cethorinus maximus) which reaches 30 - 40
feet in length. Similarly, Testudo gigantea, the world's largest
tortoise is called the Elephant Tortoise, and the slightly smaller
Galapagos Giant Tortoise is Testudo elephantopus. The world's
largest birds, Aepyomix, a genus of extinct, flightless birds of
Madagascar, are called Elephant Birds. One species stood 12
feet hign and probably weighed 1,000 pounds.
The Elephant Dung Beetle (Heliocopris gigas) of Africa
gets its name from its size (adult males may become 6 inches
long) and tusk-like integumental horns. The Elephant Beetle of
Europe (Lucanus elephas) is also large, but its enormous and
formidable mandibles must have reminded early entomologists
of tusks.
The huge Elephant Beetles of Mexico, Central America
(Megasoma elephas) and Brazil (A/. anubis) have large, proboscis-
like integumental projections on the head. The Elephant Bug or
Weevil, also called Acorn Weevil. (Curculio elephas) of Europe Mexican Elephant Beetle (above). Elephant Dung Beetle (lower
is about a half inch long and bears a "drill’ or snout used in right). European Elephant Beetle (lower left).

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caterpillar by a Dutch entomologist. Jan Gaedart. in 1662.
"since it has a thing in front of its head which is not at all a bad
resemblance to an elephant's trunk " A recent author stated
that when the larva was searching for food with the front seg-
ments stretched out and swinging back and forth they did
resemble an elephant’s trunk in shape, color and action.

Elephant Shrew (Brehm, 1883. Brehms Thierleben).

Elephant Weevil (Borror and DeLong, 1964. An Introduction

to the Study of Insects).

Sea Elephant.

Elephant Fish.

There is a group of cartilaginous fishes, genus Callorhyncus. The only Elephant's Ear animal is the commercial sponge
known as Elephant Fishes due to the prehensile prolongation of of the Mediterranean, Euspongia officinalis.
the snout. Tusk shells of the genus Dentallium are world wide in
The Elephant Snout Fish (Mormyrus kannune), is a fresh distribution. The handsomely ridged Elephant Tusk Shell
water fish of Africa with the jaws prolonged into a downward (D. elephantinum) is native of Phillipine shores.
pointing beak.

Elephant Snout Fish (Greenwood, 1958. Fishes of Uganda).

The Elephant's Trunk Snake (Acrochordus javanicus) is a

heavy bodied fresh water snake from Southeast Asia. Ele-
phantulus and several other genera of African Shrews are called
Elephant Shrews due to their elongate, moveable snouts. Ele­
phant Seals or Sea Elephants get their name from their size
and the trunk-like inflatable proboscises of the males. There Elephant Tusk Shells.
are two species. Mirounga leonina. of New Zealand and Falkland
Island shores, and M. angustirosrns of the Pacific coast and There should be no question as to how the Ivory Billed
offshore islands from Central California to Baja California. Woodpecker got its name.

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 Elephantiasis is a name given to various skin diseases of ichthyoproboscidea, was a comparison of a battlefield full of
man which cause it to look like an elephant's hide, and to the elephants to a sea teeming with sharks and fishes, an analogy
swollen condition of lower appendages accompanied with harden- difficult for the Western mind to comprehend.
ing of the skin caused by blockage of the lymphatic system by a Elephantine, the adjective meaning anything elephant-like,
minute roundworm, Wuchereria bancrofti. refers also to its movements, which are described in dictionaries
Composite monsters or makaras, that have elephant heads as clumsy, ponderous and heavy. Now. any elephant tracker
and bodies of serpents, alligators or fishes, are common in the knows that an elephant can walk softly as a cat and long ago an
architecture of India and the Far East. The mythology behind Indian poet said the walk of an elephant was reminiscent of the
these wonder beasts cannot be dealt with here, but a Burmese movements of a graceful woman ... or was it the other way
poet's theatric explanation of an elephant head and fish body, or around?

ELEPHANTS IN THE PLANT WORLD by Dale J. Osborn

Beastly names from all branches of the animal kingdom are Vegetable ivory of commerce is obtained from the latter
attached to members of the plant world. Familiar to most of us and an African fan palm. Hyphaene thebaica.
are toad stool, cranes bill, moth orchid, tiger lily, skunk cabbage, Elephant's foot (Dioscorea elephantipes) is a South African
fox glove, lobster claws, butterfly bush, bird of paradise, mother- yam having a broad surface tuber that may grow to nine feet in
in-law plant, hen and chickens, kangaroo paws, octopus plant, diameter. Another elephant foot, Testudinana elephantipes of
bear grass, monkey puzzle tree and many more. Asia, develops enormous corms. The elephant foot tree
First among animals whose names have been applied (Beaucarnia recunata) of Mexico has the trunk swollen at the
botanically is the elephant, be it African or Asian. Following base as does the elephant or palmyra palm (Borassus flabellifera)
are some of the less obscure "elephant plants" of the world. of tropical Asia.
Elephant is symbolistic of size or strength, hence, elephant In the sandy pinelands of South Carolina, Florida and
garlic and elephant pepper in India. The baobab (Adansonia Texas there is elephant's foot (Elephantopus carolinianus).
digitata) of tropical Atnca, which can have a trunk diameter of The genus, which also occurs in Asia, was a translation by
30 feet, is for obvious reasons, called the elephant tree. Linnaeus in 1753 from the Aboriginal vernacular. With imagina-
Elephant apple or wood (Faronia elephanrum), a large East tion. its flat, basal rosette of leaves resembles the track of an
Indian tree, yields strong, durable timber. elephant.
In the short summer of the North American subarctic and A number of food plants are prefixed with elephant.
alpine meadows a small perennial. (Pedicularis groenlandicus) The most accurately latinized name in this group is elephant's
bears a 2 - 6 inch spike of red flowers resembling elephant's root (Elephantorrhiza elephantina), which was discovered by
heads, trunk and all. A related species (P. atollens) of the high Burchell in 1812 from information supplied him by the
mountains of California and Oregon, lacks the trunk of the above Bechuanas. One of the most important 'elephant's food" is
and is known as little elephant's head. Portulacaria afra, a small tree or bush having juicy leaves and
Plants with large and/or assymetrical leaves that are called found in the drier parts of Africa.
elephant's ears are encyclopaedic. Most familiar of these are The popular Sausage Tree (Kigelia pinnata), which bears
species of Begonia, Caladium, Philodendron and Alocasia, which long, pendulous, sausage-like fruits, is called elephant corn by
are popular house plants. One Indonesian elephant ear, the Zulus. There are numerous elephant grasses (Pennisetum
Colocasia eseulenta, has leaves up to three feet in length. Two purpureum of the African Savannah is one of the better known),
species of fern having undivided fronds. Elaphoglossum crinitum all of which grow as high as or higher than an elephant's eye.
and Platycerium angolense, also bear the common name ele­ The common Old World cat-tail (Typha elephantina). is called
phant's ear. elephant grass in India.
Trees with short, thickened and crooked trunks, reminis­ Mopane (Colophospermum mopane), a low tree or shrub
cent of an elephant's proboscis, are elephant wood. Veatchia of the African bush, and a favorite food of elephants, provides
(Pachycowius) discolor, of Baja California and the elephant tree, such camouflage that they cannot be seen from a few feet
Burserea (Elaphrium) microphylla of the Southwestern and away. Elephant privet (Ptellopsis habeensis), a low tree of
Lower California Deserts. Nigeria, also provides concealment for elephants.
Tusk-like features on plants, such as the large, spreading There is one elephant cactus, a globular Mexican species
thorns of the East Indian Acacia tomentosa, prompted the name known as Coryphantha (Mammilaria) elephanndens.
elephant thorn. Elephant tusk (Martvnia altheafolia). a small Nothing has been named for the elephant's eye. but
perennial of the Colorado Desert, was named from the tiny Vellozid retinervis of South Africa with its fibrous stems and
curved prongs on the pod. terminal tufts of leaves does appear to have been named appro­
The ivory tree (Combretum imberbe) of Africa has whitish priately, elephant s tail.
or ivory bark, and the leaves of the ivory fig (Ficus eburnea)
of Asia have white midribs. The ivory nut is the hard seed of
the South American palm. Phytelephas macrocarpa.

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