African Bush Elephant vs. Straight-tusked Elephant

[Infinity Blade]

African Bush Elephant - Loxodonta africana
The African Bush Elephant or African Savanna Elephant (Loxodonta africana) is the larger of the two species of African elephant. Both it and the African Forest Elephant have usually been classified as a single species, known simply as the African Elephant. Some authorities still consider the currently available evidence insufficient for splitting the African Elephant into two species. It is also known as the Bush Elephant. The African Elephant is the largest living terrestrial animal, normally reaching 6 to 7.3 metres (19.7 to 24.0 ft) in length and 3.5 to 4 metres (11.5 to 13.1 ft) in height at the head, and weighing between 6,000 to 9,000 kg (13,000 to 20,000 lb). The largest on record, shot in Angola in 1955, was a bull weighing 12,274 kg (27,060 lbs and standing 4.2 metres (13.8 ft) high, the body of which is now mounted in the rotunda of the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.. (The museum's website states that the specimen weighs only 8 tons.) The Bush Elephant normally moves at a rate of 6 km/h (4 mph), but it can reach a top speed of 40 km/h (25 mph) when scared or upset. The animal is characterized by its large head; two large ears that cover its shoulders and radiate excess heat; a large and muscular trunk; two prominent tusks, which are well-developed in both sexes, although more commonly in males; a short neck; a large, barrel-like body; four long and heavy legs; and a relatively short tail. The animal is protected by a heavy but flexible layer of gray-brown skin, dotted with mostly undeveloped patches of hair and long, black hair at the tip of its tail. Its back feet have three toes that form a hoof, while the number of toes on the front feet have varied between four and five. The forehead is smoother and less convex than that of the Asian Elephant. The trunk is the most characteristic feature of the African Bush Elephant. It is formed by the fusion and elongation of the nose and upper lip, forming a flexible and strong organ made purely of muscle. Little scientific research has been carried out into elephants' cognitive or perceptual abilities. An exception is a recent report that African Bush Elephants are able to use seismic vibrations at infrasound frequencies for communication.

Straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus)


The straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) is an extinct species of elephant closely related to the living Asian elephant. It inhabited Europe during the Middle and Late Pleistocene (781,000–50,000 years before present). Some experts[who?] regard the smaller Asian species, Palaeoloxodon namadicus, as a variant or subspecies. The creature was 3.9 m (13 ft) tall, weighing about 6,000–7,000 kg (13,000–15,000 lb), and had long, slightly upward-curving tusks.[1] P. antiquus's legs were slightly longer than those of modern elephants. This elephant is thought to have had an 80-cm-long tongue that could be projected a short distance from the mouth to grasp leaves and grasses.[citation needed] With this tongue and a flexible trunk, straight-tusked elephants could graze or browse on Pleistocene foliage about 8 m above ground.

[Deleted]

The african elephant's tusks seem more practical and therefore I would favour it here.

[Deleted]

The straighter tusks of Palaeoloxodon may make goring the opponent easier for it to perform.

[Infinity Blade]

Yet another stupid matchup I made when I was 14.

Adult male P. antiquus weighed 13 tonnes on average (range of 10.8-15 tonnes), making the average bull almost 30% heavier than the heaviest bush elephant ever recorded, and over twice the size of the average bull. Moreover, unlike other true elephants, P. antiquus had very powerfully built limb bones. Its limb bones put those of modern elephants, mammoths, and even other Palaeoloxodon to shame in robustness, having very thick cortical bone and often small medullary cavities (contrary to popular belief, elephants DO have medullary cavities in their long bones, not just hematopoietic medullary bone). There's also the fact that palaeoloxodonts increasingly evolved a better developed parieto-occipital crest, which served as an attachment point for a large, extra neck muscle that held up a more massive head with extremely long tusks. Lastly, Palaeoloxodon antiquus had a much broader body than the bush elephant (Larramendi et al., 2017).

No one needs to – or even should – bring up tusks here. In fact, the tusks of P. antiquus are no more robust than modern elephants' but are much longer, and elephant biologists acknowledge that very large, oversized tusks are less practical weapons. However, when one elephant has a clear advantage in size and/or strength that's all that really matters (unless one expresses musth more strongly). You could have a P. antiquus that was born without tusks*, and it would dominate the bush elephant all the same. That is to say, very, very easily.

In short, the bush elephant is fighting a version of itself on steroids. It's a huge mismatch.

*Given how modern elephant populations have tuskless individuals with varying frequency, extinct species must have had individuals that expressed the tuskless phenotype, if relatively rarely.

[mrkrabs]

Lmfao,what is this cancerous match up.

[An Goldish Jade]

the Straight tusked elephant whould stab the African elephant to death with its bigger weaponary, the modern elephant would have real trouble reaching its opponent, the Straight elephant win most of the time.

[Deleted]

I agree with Gold J said.

[dinosauria101]

EDIT: Scratch what I said earlier. This is probably around 50/50, as the STE is about twice as big, but has far less practical weapons

[rock]

the stright tusked elephant takes this one