loxodonts.
The genus represents one of two surviving genera in the order of Proboscidea. Often referred to as the African Elephant, the loxodont may be distinguished from the oliphant, or Asian Elephant, by its bigger, raised ears shaped like the African continent. Loxodonts can be found in almost every African country consulting each others’ ears as they would maps.
Loxodonts are classed as a vulnerable species and are at risk of becoming endangered. Here’s a cruel irony: in the current environment of weakened safeguards, continued hunting of the loxodont may become one of the leading causes of its preservation. The money that the sport draws encourages land owners in countries like Zimbabwe and Namibia to set aside greater areas of their holdings for protected habitat.
Spoiler alert. Some entries in the Table make veiled reference to entries elsewhere. Because some of you tell us you’ve enjoyed discovering these associations on your own, may we suggest holding off reading the rubric items until you’ve spent some time with the Table as a whole? Which, if you can’t spring for the print, you’re welcome to find here.
Loxodont
1 | African Bush Loxodont
Aka the African Savannah Elephant, the loxodont outlives every mammal but us humans. Adult females can weigh over three tons, adult males twice that. Loxodont herds are led by the eldest female, or matriarch, while the adult males tend to lead a more solitary life, only approaching herds for mating purposes or to ask if they’ve seen where they might have left their car keys.
Loxodont
2 | African Forest Loxodont
Smallest of living oliphants and loxodonts, it differs from the African Bush Loxodont in that it has one fewer toe. In the last decade, due to hunting, habitat loss, poaching, and fragmentation of communities, population has declined to fewer than 30,000—basically Helena, Montana.
Loxodont
3 | North African Loxodont
Aka Atlas Loxodont, this is sub-species of the African Forest Loxodont has been extinct since Roman times. Historians believe they constituted Hannibal’s legion of war elephants; accounts from the period go out of their way to describe these creatures as not only dangerous but loud and smelly.