African Bush Elephant
“Order, Proboscidea. Family, Elephantidae. That's me, African Bush Elephant~. I wish I could lead a herd. I want to be a good grandmother like mine someday. But, it'll be a while before I grow up. Until then, let's paopao together!”
—African Bush Elephant's introduction
African Bush Elephant
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| アフリカゾウ | |||
| Character Data | |||
| Romaji | Afurikazou
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| Debut | Kemono Friends (2015 Game) | ||
| Animal Data | |||
| Scientific Name | Loxodonta africana
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| Distribution | Africa
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| Diet | Herbivore
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| Avg. Lifespan | 60 – 70 years
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| Read More | African bush elephant
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| Conservation | 
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| African Bush Elephant | Manga | Festival | Pavilion | KF3 | Kingdom | Nexon Game | Stage Play | Gallery |
African Bush Elephant is an Elephantid Friend that appeared in the original Kemono Friends mobile game as well as the manga.
Appearance
African Bush Elephant has amber eyes, and short gray hair. She has two lengthy strands of hair resembling tusks on the side of her head that fade to ivory. African Bush Elephant is also adorned with large ears and a tufted tail, just like her real life counterpart. Her accessories include a red apple and long scarf similar to a trunk. She wears a sky blue sleeveless midriff shirt, as well as a black tie and gray gloves. For her lower half, African Bush Elephant wears black ripped denim shorts with a gray belt, grey thigh highs, and laced mid-calf boots. Her boots have a white toe cap, representing the toe nails of an elephant.
Series Appearances
| Media | Role | First Appearance | |
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| 2015 | Nexon Game | ↪ Minor character, playable character | |
| 2015 | Kemono Friends: Welcome to Japari Park! | ↪ Minor character | Chapter 8 |
| 2018 | Kemono Friends Pavilion | ↪ Observable character | |
| 2018 | Kemono Friends Festival | ↪ Minor character, playable character | |
| 2018 | Welcome to Japari Park (2018 ONA) | Background character | Episode 1 |
| 2018 | Kemono Friends Picross | Appears in a puzzle | |
| 2018 | Stage Play "Kemono Friends 2" ~Kemonos of the Snowy Night~ | ↪ Minor character | |
| 2019 | Kemono Friends 2 (Manga) | ↪ Background character | Chapter 17 |
| 2019 | Chokotto Anime Kemono Friends 3 | Major character | Episode 2 |
| 2019 | Kemono Friends 3 | ↪ Minor character, playable character | |
| 2019 | Kemono Friends 3: Planet Tours | ↪ Playable character | |
| 2022 | Kemono Friends Kingdom | ↪ Minor character, playable character | |
Minor Appearances
Kemono Friends Picross
African Bush Elephant appears in a puzzle of Kemono Friends Picross where the player can obtain a picture of the friend by solving a puzzle.
Tobu Japari Park
African Bush Elephant appeared in Tobu Japari Park, an interactive promotional collaboration between Kemono Friends and Tobu Zoo.
In Real Life
The African bush elephant, also known as the African savanna elephant, is the larger of the two species of African elephant, the other species being the Forest elephant.
The African Elephant is very diverse in its range, and tends to move between a variety of habitats. It is found in dense forest, open and closed savanna, grassland and, at considerably lower densities, in the arid deserts of Namibia and Mali. They are also found over wide altitudinal and latitudinal ranges, from mountain slopes to oceanic beaches, and from the northern tropics to the southern temperate zone. Their herds wander through 37 countries in Africa.
They are easily recognized by their trunk, which is used for communication and handling objects. Their large ears allow them to radiate excess heat. Upper incisor teeth develop into tusks in African elephants and grow throughout their lifetime.
African elephants are herbivorous. Their diet varies according to their habitat. Their diet consists of tree foliage, fruits, herbs, grasses, and wood including roots, twigs, and bark. Their source of fiber comes from chewing on bark, but not digesting the bark itself. Elephants only digest about 40% of what they eat, and therefore need to spend two-thirds of every day eating. In order to obtain bark or roots, African elephants will overturn a tree for easier access. Using their trunks as a temporary container, African elephants use their trunks to gather water and shoot it into their mouths. They must consume around 50 gallons of water everyday in order to stay hydrated.
African elephants are active animals for the majority of time in a 24-hour period, due to the amount of food they must consume each day. They are dormant in the early morning hours with some additional sleep midday for a total of 4 hours of sleep every day. During this time they scavenge for food and groom themselves. Grooming consists of African elephants using their trunks to cover themselves with mud or water, and the process helps them maintain hydration.
An elephants trunk is the most versatile of all mammalian creations being used as a nose, arm, hand and multipurpose tool. It is powerful enough to kill a lion with a single swipe, yet the finger-like lobes at the end are adept enough to pluck a feather from the ground.
Elephants tusks are elongated upper incisor teeth, which grow continuously throughout the elephants life. They are not always an exact match, as this depends on which side they favour much like left and right-handed humans.
In most places, the adult African Bush Elephant lacks natural predators thanks to its great size; however, the calves (especially the newborn) are vulnerable to lions and crocodile attacks and (rarely) to leopard and hyena attacks.
Poaching for ivory and meat has traditionally been the major cause of the species' decline. Although illegal hunting remains a significant factor in some areas, particularly in Central Africa, currently the most important perceived threat is the loss and fragmentation of habitat caused by ongoing human population expansion and rapid land conversion. The African Elephant is subject to varying degrees of legal protection in all Range States. Although up to 70% of the species range is believed to lie in unprotected land, most large populations reside within protected areas.
Trivia
- The African bush elephant is the largest and heaviest land animal on earth.
- There are many parasitic species that use African elephants as their host. There is a wide variety to the kind of parasites that infect African elephant. African elephants do have a mutualistic relationship with birds, as the birds will feed on the skin parasites of the elephants, providing them a meal while ridding the elephants of some parasites.
References
1. "Loxodonta africana". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
2. "African elephant physical description". WWF.
3. African Elephants at Animal Corner.
4. "ADW: Loxodonta africana: INFORMATION". Animal Diversity Web.