Talk:African elephant

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WikiProject Echo has identified African elephant as a foreign language featured article. You may be able to improve this article with information from the Finnish language Wikipedia.

Contents 1 Too small? 2 Protection 3 Who really named it Loxodonta ?? 4 Current Events 5 Conservation 6 sorry, semi-protection broke the bot... 7 Re-semiprotected 8 Language 9 Most of the Info Needs Adding 10 Adding false information

[edit] Too small?

I think the article is too small and should be extended with more sections. --67.162.31.74 00:59, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Protection

Isn't it time that this page be unprotected and get a Trivia section, including Babar and the Colbert Situation? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by The Sporadic Update (talk • contribs) .

No. There's no need for listing Colbert in this article. It is approprite to list the Wiki Colbert spam incident only on his articles. - UtherSRG (talk) 02:22, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Well, at least Babar should be mentioned, even so. (and sorry i didn't sign my comment; i forgot to click the thing)--The Sporadic Update 20:10, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Um, so... why exactly is a mention of the Colbert story inappropriate on this page? 'Cause, uh, Bears gets one... In fact, most major animal articles have "___ in Popular Culture" as a section (Tigers, Squirrels, Cows and many others). Personally, I don't think it's fair to deny the African Elephant it's spot in popular culture as created by the Colbert Report. Crazynorvegian 22:22, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Because WP:ASR. Demiurge 22:28, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Ok, point taken. And of course, as if to further spite me, this specific example just HAS to be cited in the WP:ASR article itself... Crazynorvegian 23:42, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Mentioning Colbert would inspire more vandalism. Also, it is silly to mention Babar and other cartoon elephants here: if everything as insignificant to african elephants as Babar were included, what would this article be?

(sign your comments!) Um, more than a stub? This thing's miniscule. Putting a reference to Colbert into it will pacify a lot of the compulsion to vandalize, give them a sense of satisfaction, allow us to unlock the article, and add content to a currently dinky article. Seriously, I've seen Wikipedia articles on exotic candles that are longer than this.68.102.179.135 00:47, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

No. We will not give in to the vandalism. - UtherSRG (talk) 00:52, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Come on, someone out there needs to seriously "take the bull by the horns" (or perhaps "take the elephant by the tusts") and add some good content here! :-) —GRM 19:25, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

The vandalism of this page is getting seriously out of hand. Why not impose full protection and ask for volunteers to write some decent text via this page?—GRM 17:33, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

God you douchebags, you're trying so hard to protect this article from vandalism as though you're soooo dedicated to it but the African Elephants section of Elephants is full of information to add and I can't add it because the article's protected. I say just get rid of the damn article because it's got less information on African elephants than the Elephants article.--DavidFuzznut 15:29, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

First, WP:CIVIL. Second, if there is info you want to add to the article, make your edit here on the talk page and I or another admin will be happy to add it to the article. I for one am tired or repeatedly reverting the childish vandlism spurred by Colbert. (And I'm a fan of his show otherwise.) - UtherSRG (talk) 15:47, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

It should never be unlocked. All propsed changes and new sections should be hammered out in the discussion section, then, an admin can stick it in the article. And for petesake leave out that Babar crap. WP is already polluted with everyone's pop culture pet causes; unconcise articles full of minutia just turn people off.

[edit] Who really named it Loxodonta ??

From the introduction: Although it is commonly believed that the genus was named by Georges Cuvier in 1825, Cuvier spelled it Loxodonte. An anonymous author romanized the spelling to Loxodonta and the ICZN recognizes this as the proper authority
The references I can find online record (Blumenbach, 1797) as the author of this name eg [1] It appears to me that Cuvier may have mispelt it, but that would explain the anonymous correction back to Laxodonta. And does ICZN recognizes this as the proper authority mean they recognise Cuvier or that they recognise Loxodonta (is there an online copy of the ICNZ authority for this). This ref seems to say ICNZ doesn't accept Cuvier [2] ??? --AGoon 22:56, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Corrct. Cuvier made a mistake, and the ICZN accepts the anonymous authority over Cuvier. The MSW reference you cite is both out of date and note saying what you think it is saying. It says Cubier, and that Blumenbach is the authority for the type species. MSW3 correct this and properly credits Anonymous, and explains this all much as in our article. - UtherSRG (talk) 13:15, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

My confusiion was not being familiar with the way things are described on the MSW pages. I saw that Blumenbach named it in 1797 and didn't understand why he wasn't given credit. I now see he named it Elephas africanus not Loxodonta. --AGoon 21:20, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

You are still confused. Each genus has a type species. Before Loxodonta, all elephant speces were in Elephas. Cuvier came around ad said, "What ho! These elephants from Africa are significantly different than those elephants in Asia. I hold up this species Elephas africanus as typifying of the African species." Blumenbach had already named that species, which is now Loxodonta africana. But, as we said before, Cuvier gt the naming wrong, and he was anonymously corrected. - UtherSRG (talk) 22:31, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Please do not edit my posts to a discussion forum even when I'm wrong!, of course you are welcome to post followup corrections :-). Thankyou, my confusion stems from comparing infoboxes for the African Elephant to similar wikipedia pages in other languages. I've finally realised that my problem is that I've been comparing this African Elephant genus page with those for the African_Bush_Elephant species on other language wikipedia pages. Perhaps we need a photo illustrating the two species on this page. Oh well, I've learned something :-) --AGoon 01:28, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Current Events

Removed tag about current events as there is no information currently in the article about a current event. Once information that will be rapidly changes is added, I'll put the tag back Pnkrockr 15:33, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Conservation

Meaning was lost due to poor sentence structure. Fixed grammar and sentence structure. Ms. Landau 15:47, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] sorry, semi-protection broke the bot...

could you please remove one of the double {{Link FA|fi}} thanks - Mandavi —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.191.47.162 (talk • contribs) .

Done. - UtherSRG (talk) 19:31, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Re-semiprotected

I've re-semiprotected the article, after it was vandalized 12 times in the last day. -- Fuzheado | Talk 15:23, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Language

No, I'm not referring to the suggested Finnish origin of the text!
I'm talking about that used in the article itself, e.g. "developed into the modern African elephant" — shouldn't this rather say "presumed antecendent of modern species"? — GRM 17:32, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Most of the Info Needs Adding

This info can be found in the "African Elephants" section of Elephants I didn't thoroughly read through it but as short as the article currently is I know it doesn't include a lot. Even though the stuff about Forest Elephants and Savanna Elephants is probably in those respective articles, it really does belong here.--DavidFuzznut 05:44, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

African elephants are distinguished from Asian elephants in several ways. The most noticeable difference is the ears. Africans' ears are much larger and are shaped like the continent of their origin. The African elephant is typically larger than the Asian and has a concave back. Both males and females have external tusks and are usually less hairy than their Asian cousins.

African elephants have traditionally been classified as a single species composed of two distinct subspecies, namely the savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana africana) and the forest elephant (Loxodonta africana cyclotis), but recent DNA analysis suggests that these may actually constitute distinct species.[4] While this split is not universally accepted by experts[5] a third species of African elephant has also been proposed.[6]

Under the two species classification, Loxodonta africana refers specifically to the Savanna Elephant, the largest of all the elephants. In fact, it is the largest land animal in the world, standing up to 13 ft (4 m) at the shoulder and weighing approximately 15,400 lb (7,000 kg). The average male stands about 3 m (10 ft) high at the shoulder and weighs about 5500–6000 kg, female being much smaller. Most often, Savanna Elephants are found in open grasslands, marshes, and lakeshores. They range over much of the savanna zone south of the Sahara.

The other postulated species is the Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis). Compared with the Savanna Elephant, its ears are usually smaller and rounder, and its tusks are also thinner and straighter and are not directed outwards so much. The Forest Elephant can weigh up to 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) and stand about 10 ft (3 m) tall. Much less is known about these animals than their savanna cousins because environmental and political obstacles make them very difficult to study. Normally they inhabit the dense African rain forests of central and western Africa, though occasionally they do inhabit the edges of forests and overlap territories and hybridize with bush elephants.

In 1979, Iain Douglas-Hamilton estimated the continental population of African elephants at around 1.3 million animals.[7] Although the estimate was controversial due to the large dose of guesswork it contained,[8] it is very widely cited and has become a de facto baseline that continues to be incorrectly used to quantify downward population trends in the species. Through the 1980s, Loxodonta received worldwide attention due to the dwindling numbers of major populations in East Africa, largely as a result of poaching. Today, according to IUCN’s African Elephant Status Report 2002[9] there are approximately between 400,000 and 650,000 African elephants in the wild. Although this estimate only covers approximately half of the total elephant range, experts do not believe the true figure to be much higher, as it is unlikely that large populations remain to be discovered.[10] By far the largest populations are now found in Southern and Eastern Africa, which together account for the majority of the continental population. According to a recent analysis by IUCN experts, most major populations in Eastern and Southern Africa are stable or have been steadily increasing since the mid-1990s, at an average rate of 4.5% per annum.[11]

Elephant populations in West Africa, on the other hand, are generally small and fragmented, and only account for a small proportion of the continental total.[12] Much uncertainty remains as to the size of the elephant population in Central Africa, where the prevalence of forest makes population surveys logistically difficult, but poaching for ivory and bushmeat is believed to be intense through much of the region[13]

[edit] Adding false information

Please, unregistered users, stop adding things about the number of elephants having tripled in a year. The page will just end up being protected again and then you won't be able to add anything at all, and nobody will be better off, especially you. --Jackaranga 06:10, 11 February 2007 (UTC)