Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index The African elephant is a term used for two of three species of large greyish land mammals. \'Elephant' An African elephant at an English zoo. Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Proboscidea Family: Elephantidae Species Loxodonta africana Loxodonta cyclotis The African bush elephant Loxodonta africana and African forest elephant Loxodonta cyclotis were previously classified as one species. They are larger than the Indian (or Asian) elephant, and have larger ears (which are rich in veins and thought to help in cooling off the blood in the hotter African climate). Male elephants of all species have tusks, however only African females have tusks. African elephants have a dipped back compared with Indians, and two "fingers" at the tip of their trunks, while Indian elephants have only one. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.