Proboscide mammals. Representatives of the squad proboscis and their features

Who are the proboscis mammals? Representatives of these animals appeared millions of years ago. Find out how many species there are now, what distinctive features they have.

Proboscide mammals

With the word "proboscide", usually there are only a few associations - elephants and mammoths. And this is correct, because the Squadron unit includes only a family of elephants. Trunk mammals appeared in equatorial Africa about 45 million years ago. Then their range expanded to Africa, Eurasia, North and South America. Their distant ancestors are mastodons and mammoths.

Currently, elephants are common in Southeast Asia and Africa. They live in savannas and tropical forests. They are social animals and real long-livers. Elephants die at the age of 60-80 years. Live in groups consisting of several females and cubs. Males only occasionally join them in order to find a partner for mating.

For the sake of food, they are able to travel hundreds of kilometers. On the day elephants eat up to 500 kilograms of plant food, drink up to 300 liters of water. At the same time, animals do not absorb more than 40% of the food. The basis of the diet consists of leaves, grass, fruits and bark of trees.

Features of the structure

Their size is impressive. Elephants are huge herbivores with an average height of 2.5 to 4 meters, the length is up to 4.5 meters. The proboscis mammals have a giant body, compared to a human, a large head and large ears. Skin of gray color is covered with sparse vegetation and fine wrinkles.

Huge ears help to cope with the heat, regulating the receipt and return of heat in the body. Additional cooling takes place during the swinging of the ears. Thanks to these powerful locators, elephants perfectly distinguish sounds at a frequency of 1 kHz.

Teeth-incisors in them are greatly enlarged and are called tusks. For humans, they are a valuable material, so animals are often killed for ivory. Despite its impressive size, the elephants step softly and silently from the fat pad on their feet, which increases the foot area.

What for to an elephant a trunk?

The trunk is an important and indispensable organ for elephants. It was formed by the junction of the upper lip and nose. Equipped with muscles and tendons that allow the animal to use it instead of the hands. With this powerful and flexible tool, the proboscis mammals can drag branches, logs, tear fruit from trees.

The trunk works as a sensory organ. The nostrils located at the end help to sense smells. Due to the sensitivity of the trunk, elephants feel objects to recognize them. At the watering hole, water is sucked in the trunk, then sent to the mouth. Sounds, published with the help of this body, allow the elephants to communicate.

Types of elephants

Elephants are represented by only three species - African savannah, Indian, Forest. The latter has dwarf sizes, in comparison with its brothers, and reaches only two and a half meters in height. The animal's body is covered with a thicker brown hairline. He has rounded ears, which is why he is nicknamed round-eared. Together with the sacred elephant, the forest is listed in the Red Book.

The African savannah is also listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest mammal in the world. The length of his body sometimes reaches seven meters, and the height in the shoulders - four. The average weight of males reaches 7 tons, and in females it is two tons less. They dwell mainly in reservations and national parks, some are distributed in the desert regions of Namibia and Mali, which is why they are called desert elephants.

The Indian, or Asian elephant , is slightly smaller than the savanna. Its usual habitat is bamboo thickets, tropical and deciduous forests. He is the only representative of the genus of Indian elephants and is considered an endangered species. There are several subspecies of it living in Sri Lanka, Sumatra, India, China, Cambodia, on the island of Borneo.