Why do elephants have small tails?

Grazing animals such as elephants, zebras and giraffes have long, thin tails with a tuft of hair on the end. These tails function like built-in fly swatters that enable the animals to protect themselves from biting insects.

What is the evolutionary reason for tails?

Tails are part of the evolutionary package for many mammals. For dogs and cats, tails help provide balance and offer an additional means of communication.

Is the tail of an elephant long or short?

This frees up their trunk, tusks and feet to get on with other tasks. Elephants are not very hairy creatures. But their tails certainly are an exception to this rule, with thick, coarse, black tail hairs that can reach a length of up to 100cm – all the better to scatter those flies.

What is elephant tail?

A mammal’s waving tail forms a curtain of air that can discourage most mosquitoes from landing — and blows the pests away. Tail-wagging in mammals such as elephants has long been thought to ward off biting insects, but the behaviour has received little attention from scientists.

What is the scientific name of elephant?

Loxodonta
African elephants/Scientific names
Species. Historically, elephants were classified into two species, the African (Loxodonta africana) and Asian (Elephas maximus) elephants. However, genetic research has provided new insight to elephant “relatedness” and taxonomic classification at the subspecies level.

What are the body parts of an elephant?

Like your own, an elephant’s body has hair, skin, bones, muscles, blood vessels, eyes and ears. It also has a stomach, heart, kidney, bladder, brain and other organs. These and other parts of your body make up your anatomy.

What is the anatomy and morphology of an elephant?

Anatomy and morphology. The average male African bush elephant is 3.20 m (10.50 ft) tall at the shoulder and has a body mass of 6,000 kg (13,200 lb), whereas the average female is 2.60 m (8.53 ft) tall at the shoulder and have a mass of 3,000 kg (6,600 lb). Asian elephants are smaller, with males being 2.75 m…

What is the evolutionary history of the elephant?

Elephant Evolution and Adaptation Forms of the elephant are believed to date back to 2,000 B.C. In these early times they were used to help with building due to their size. Many experts believe that the Mammoth which is now extinct is an early form of the elephant.

What is the average height of an African elephant?

African bush elephants are the largest species, with males being 3.04–3.36 m (10–11 ft) tall at the shoulder with a body mass of 5,200–6,900 kg (11,500–15,200 lb) and females standing 2.47–2.73 m (8 ft 1 in–8 ft 11 in) tall at the shoulder with a body mass of 2,600–3,500 kg (5,700–7,700 lb).

Why do elephants have no tails on their back?

The elephants uses thier trunk for lots of work like holding, watering etc. Thus some work of tails are replaced by trunk like removing insects or small creatures on his back. They have huge ears like fans which covers most of the back part. So they use very less thier tails as they are adapted to use thier trunk and ear.