Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae and the order Proboscidea; extinct relatives include mammoths and mastodons. Distinctive features of elephants include a long proboscis called a trunk, tusks, large ear flaps, pillar-like legs, and tough but sensitive grey skin. The trunk is prehensile, bringing food and water to the mouth and grasping objects. Tusks, which are derived from the incisor teeth, serve both as weapons and as tools for moving objects and digging. The large ear flaps assist in maintaining a constant body temperature as well as in communication. African elephants have larger ears and concave backs, whereas Asian elephants have smaller ears and convex or level backs.
The Wild Thornberrys is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, Steve Pepoon, David Silverman, and Stephen Sustarsic for Nickelodeon. The series portrays the zany hijinks of a family of nomadic wildlife documentary filmmakers known as the Thornberrys, which consist of the nature documentary television host Nigel, his wife and camera operator Marianne, their 16-year-old daughter Debbie, their younger daughter Eliza, their adopted son Donnie, and a chimpanzee named Darwin. The series focuses in particular on Eliza, who has a magical ability to communicate with animals. The Thornberry family travels to every continent and wildlife environment in the ComVee, a recreational vehicle equipped with safety mechanisms to handle any terrain or body of water, to document their journeys in detail, with typical episodes involving Eliza befriending an animal and subsequently finding herself in peril.
The African forest elephant is one of the two living species of African elephant. It is native to humid tropical forests in West Africa and the Congo Basin. It is the smallest of the three living elephant species, reaching a shoulder height of 2.4 m. As with other African elephants, both sexes have straight, down-pointing tusks, which begin to grow once the animals reach 1–3 years old. The forest elephant lives in highly sociable family groups of up to 20 individuals. Since they forage primarily on leaves, seeds, fruit, and tree bark, they have often been referred to as the 'megagardener of the forest'; the species is one of many that contributes significantly to maintaining the composition, diversity and structure of the Guinean Forests of West Africa and the Congolese rainforests. Seeds of various plants will go through the elephant's digestive tract and eventually pass through in the animal's droppings, thus helping to maintain the spread and biodiversity of the forests.
The Wild Thornberrys Movie is a 2002 American animated adventure film based on the television series of the same name. It was produced by Klasky Csupo and distributed by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies. Directed by Jeff McGrath and Cathy Malkasian, the film follows the show's protagonist, Eliza Thornberry as she goes on a quest to save a cheetah cub from ruthless poachers. The film was released on December 20, 2002, to mostly positive reviews and grossed more than $60 million worldwide. It is the first installment in The Wild Thornberrys film series.
Hathi is a fictional character created by Rudyard Kipling for the Mowgli stories collected in The Jungle Book (1894) and The Second Jungle Book (1895). Hathi is an elephant that lives in the Seeoni jungle. Kipling named him after hāthī (हाथी), the Hindi word for "elephant".
George of the Jungle is a 1997 American comedy film directed by Sam Weisman and based on Jay Ward and Bill Scott's 1967 American animated television series of the same name, which in turn is a spoof of the fictional character Tarzan, created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Written by Dana Olsen and Audrey Wells, and starring Brendan Fraser, Leslie Mann, Thomas Haden Church, Holland Taylor, Richard Roundtree and John Cleese. It tells the story of a young man raised by wild animals who falls for an heiress and contends with the heiress's spoiled and narcissistic fiancé. The film was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and was released in theatres throughout the United States and Canada on July 16, 1997. It was later aired on Disney Channel in the United States on December 5, 1998. The film received mixed reviews and grossed $174 million worldwide. A sequel, George of the Jungle 2, was released direct-to-video on October 21, 2003.
A Far Off Place is a 1993 American adventure drama film based on Laurens van der Post's works A Far Off Place (1974) and its predecessor, A Story Like the Wind (1972). It stars Reese Witherspoon, Ethan Randall, Jack Thompson and Maximilian Schell. The plot concerns three young teenagers who must cross the Kalahari Desert to safety when their parents are killed by a poacher.
Eye of the Leopard is a 2006 National Geographic documentary directed by Dereck and Beverly Joubert. Set in the Mombo region of the Okavango Delta, Botswana, the film explores the life of a female leopard, Legadema, as she matures from a cub to an adult. Jeremy Irons, voice actor of Scar from Disney's 1994 animation The Lion King, narrates the film. It premiered in the US on the National Geographic Channel on October 8, 2006, and has won many awards including the BBC wildscreen Panda award for Best Sound Wild Screen and an Emmy. Since the success of the film, a book and an app of the same title have been released.
Goliath II is a 1960 American animated comedy short film produced by Walt Disney Productions. Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman and written by Bill Peet, it is narrated by Sterling Holloway and stars the voices of Kevin Corcoran, Barbara Jo Allen and Paul Frees. It was released theatrically in the United States on January 21, 1960, alongside the live-action film Toby Tyler.
Tarzan and the She-Devil is a 1953 American film directed by Kurt Neumann and starring Lex Barker as Tarzan and Joyce MacKenzie as Jane. The seventeenth film of the Tarzan film series that began with 1932's Tarzan the Ape Man, it also features Raymond Burr, Tom Conway and Monique van Vooren, who plays the "She-Devil."
Adavi Donga is a 1985 Telugu-language film directed by K. Raghavendra Rao. It stars Chiranjeevi, Radha, Sharada, Rao Gopal Rao and others. Chakravarthy composed the music.
The African bush elephant, also known as the African savanna elephant, is one of two extant African elephant species and one of three extant elephant species. It is the largest living terrestrial animal, with bulls reaching an average shoulder height of 3.04–3.36 metres (10.0–11.0 ft) and a body mass of 5.2–6.9 tonnes (11,500–15,200 lb), with the largest recorded specimen having a shoulder height of 3.96 metres (13.0 ft) and an estimated body mass of 10.4 tonnes (22,900 lb).
Animals United is a 2010 German animated fantasy adventure comedy film directed and produced by Reinhard Klooss and Holger Tappe and released on 7 October 2010. The film stars Ralf Schmitz and Thomas Fritsch as a meerkat named Billy and a lion named Socrates, who go on an epic quest to discover why their river has unexpectedly dried up. It is based on the 1949 book The Animals' Conference by Erich Kästner and Walter Trier. This is the second adaptation as the first adaptation was a 2D-animated film, which was also the first German animated feature film to be in color that was released in 1969. The screenplay for the film was written by Oliver Huzly and Reinhard Kloos. An English-language dub version for Animals United stars an ensemble British cast, including James Corden, Stephen Fry and Andy Serkis.
Desert elephants or desert-adapted elephants are not a distinct species of elephant but are African bush elephants that have made their homes in the Namib and Sahara deserts in Africa. Previously they were classified as a subspecies of the African bush elephant, but this is no longer the case. Desert-dwelling elephants were once more widespread in Africa than they are at present; they are currently found only in Namibia and Mali. They tend to migrate from one waterhole to another following traditional routes which depend on the seasonal availability of food and water. They face being threatened by poaching and from changes in land use by humans.
Satao was one of Kenya's largest African elephants. He was known as a tusker because his tusks were so long that they almost touched the ground. The Tsavo Trust announced that Satao was killed by poachers using a poisoned arrow on 30 May 2014.
Peter C. "Pete" Pearson was an Australian-born game ranger, poacher, and professional hunter in East Africa.
The Magnificent Seven Elephants were seven bull elephants who lived in Kruger National Park in South Africa through the 1980s. They were so-named for the impressive 50 kg of ivory in their tusks. In 1980, park management decided to promote the seven elephants to showcase their conservation accomplishments. A series of portraits were released by Paul Bosman along with several articles from the Park's Senior Researcher, Anthony Hall-Martin. This sparked a public fascination with large elephants. When each of the seven died, their tusks and skulls were placed in a museum. After the tusks were exhibited in Olifants Rest Camp for a while, the Elephant Museum was opened in Letaba Rest Camp. Six of the elephant's tusks are exhibited there: Dzombo, Kambaku, Mafunyane, Ndlulamithi, Shawu en Shingwedzi. Those of the seventh, João, were unfortunately stolen in 1984 and never found.
Phoenix Wilder and the Great Elephant Adventure is a 2017 Canadian,South African adventure film, written and directed by Richard Boddington the film stars Elizabeth Hurley, Hlomla Dandala, Sam Ashe Arnold and Tertius Meintjes.
Leo the Lion is a 2005 Italian animated adventure musical film directed by Mario Cambi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Pierstefano Marangoni. It stars Neri Marcorè, Leo Gullotta and Carlo Conti. The film follows Leo, a lion who exhibits a vegetarian diet which causes him to be an outcast among his pride.
