EVOLUTION:
AsianElephant (Elephasmaximus)
TheMeaningoftheWord“Elephant”
ThewordelephanthasbothGreekandLatinorigins.Thisappliesspecificallytotheelephant’sscientificgenusname“Elephas”.InGreeklinguistics,elephosrepresentsanantleredbeastorstag.
TherootsofthewordelephantinLatinisdividedintotwowords:“ele”whichmeansarchand“phant”whichmeanshuge.
Thegenusname,Loxodonta,fortheAfricanelephantmeanslozenge-shapedteethforthechewingsurfaces.
TheorderunderwhichElephantsareclassifiedistheProboscidea.Thisisforoneoftheelephant'smostinterestingphysicalfeatures.Itissomethingthatattractscuriosityfromaroundtheworldforelephantsalongwithmanyotheraspectsinthepastonlyascribedtothehuman,suchas,rudimentarytooluse,complexsocialbehaviours,andreverenceforadeadfamilymemberorfriend.Itistheirtrunkorproboscis;themeaningofProboscideaspeciesissimplyanimalswithtrunks/proboscis.
ElephasMaximus/AsianElephant(Genus)
Ataboutthesametimethatthemammothwascomingintoexistence,sowastheAsianelephant,Elephas.ItalsooriginatedinAfricaanditisbelievedtohaveastrongerevolutionarytietomammothsthanithaswithAfricanelephants.
AsianelephantsspreadthroughoutEurasiaandtheynowexistinIndia,SriLanka,China,BangladeshandSoutheastAsia.ElephasmaximusindicusistheIndiansubspecies.ElephasmaximussumatranusisthesubspeciesofSumatra.OntheislandofSriLanka,thereisalsoasubspeciescalledElephasmaximusmaximus.Theisolationthattheislandhasprovidedhasallowedadivergentevolutiontooccur.Mostofthebullstherearetuskless,thoughtheyarenotaseparatespecies.Thismaybetheresultofaselectionprocessinwhich,overaperiodofcenturies,bullswithparticularlylargetuskswereshotbyivoryhuntersandhadfeweroffspringasaresult.Thisisasad,butinterestingexampleoftherolethathumanscanplayintheevolutionofotherspecies.
