African and Indian elephants, which belong to the proboscis family, today are the only representatives of animals with tusks that were once very common throughout the world. The main types of elephants are distinguished by the shape of the head: the African has a more sloping profile, and the Indian has pronounced brow ridges and has a protrusion with a cleft in the middle at the crown.
Breeding features of elephants
Adult male elephants, both African and Indian, tend to be solitary. In temporary groups that are not associated with females, only young males who have not yet reached puberty are united, while females live together. Usually males become sexually mature, reaching the age of 15 to 20 years - after that every year they have a condition that is called "must" in Urdu, which means "intoxication". During this period, when the level of testosterone in the body of males significantly increases, they can even be dangerous, as they behave quite aggressively.
According to zoologists, in fights, elephants can receive serious and even fatal injuries, after which the winner drives all his rivals away from the female, and then spends about 3 weeks with her.
According to a number of experts, in African elephants, "must" passes less pronounced, starting later, usually after 25 years.
Usually, sexually mature males approach the elephant herd only if one of the females has begun the so-called estrus. If the rest of the time the males are rather tolerant of their relatives, then during this period they arrange mating fights, especially if their feeding territories are crossed.
Elephants can breed at almost any time of the year, it only depends on when the female begins estrus. If the full estrous cycle in elephants lasts about 4 months, then the appropriate time for copulation lasts only 2-4 days. Males, approaching the herd at this time, begin to engage in mating fights. As a result, only the mature and strongest dominant individuals participate in reproduction.
Pregnancy and the birth of elephants
Elephants have a longest gestation period among all mammals. Females bear cubs from 18 to 21.5 months. At the same time, according to scientific data, the fetus can be considered fully formed by 19 months, later it only grows, increasing in size. How much one or another elephant will carry a baby depends on a number of factors: the season, the age of the female, the amount of food, etc.
When the elephant prepares for the appearance of the cub, the rest of the females surround her, standing up around the woman in labor with a wall. After giving birth, the female begins to defecate - so the baby elephant will be able to remember the smell of her feces, which will help him keep up with his mother in the future. As early as 2 hours after giving birth, elephants can usually stand up and suck milk. At this time, the mother showered him with dust and earth with her trunk so that the skin of the newborn would dry out and the smell would not attract predators.
It is interesting that all the females of the herd that are in lactation during this period feed the newborn cub.
After a few days, the elephants are already able to walk along with the rest of the herd. In this case, the baby holds on to the tail of his mother or sister with his trunk. At the age of 6-7 months, elephants begin to eat plant food, and before that they eat maternal feces, thus receiving not only undigested nutrients, but also various symbiotic bacteria that are useful for the assimilation of cellulose.
