#forest elephant

A young forest elephant trots along with its parents in Lopé National Park, Gabon, along one of many paths that generations of the animals have cut through the fruit-rich rainforest. Elephants pass on the knowledge of what to forage, where to find it, and when it’s likely to be ripe. Researchers have discovered that Earth’s warming temperatures could be lowering the fruit yield of many species of trees at the park, which in turn seems to be causing some forest elephants to go hungry. (From “How a warming climate threatens Africa’s endangered forest elephants,” May 2022.)

It's #cafezootober Day 12: Forest Elephant & Apple

Cool forest elephant fact: Forest elephants are found in dense forests and are essential for the germination of many rain forest trees. The seeds of these trees only germinate after passing through the elephant’s digestive tract.

Participating in #cafezootober helps to spread the word about critically endangered species, as well as provides the world with much-needed art featuring these beautiful animals.

Forest Maker by Dartxo

Here is a great looking colored pencil drawing that shows a mighty packy walking through the jungle. Specifically, it’s the rare African Forest Elephant variety of packy, & the artist did a great job making it look so mighty & majestic!

More previews for my mod based on ‘Silent Hill: Jungle Fever’ by @bogleech and @bonelessnerd .

I call this one ‘Loxodonta’. It can be seen around the game devouring trees and/or setting buildings on fire. They attack with their ring of buzzing blade-like insect wings. Everyone in-game insists on referring to them as “vehicles” and “machines”, no one (including the protagonist) seems to aknowledge their more... organic aspects.

Still work in progress

In Africa, there are two kinds of elephants: savanna and forest elephants. The species diverged somewhere between two and six million years ago, with the better-known savanna elephants spreading over the plains and open woodlands of Eastern, Southern, and Western Africa while forest elephants stayed behind in the dense forests at the center of the continent.

Although the two occasionally hybridize, they are widely viewed as separate species. Forest elephants are smaller, with smaller and straighter tusks. The size of their tusks, however, has not protected them from rampant poaching, because the tusks have a distinctive hue, sometimes known as “pink ivory,” that has made them particularly valuable.