Largest Land Mammals and Their Types
The largest land mammals include the mammals like the African elephant, giraffe, the white rhinoceros, the water buffalo, the Hippopotamus and the walruses. The African elephants are of two kinds- African bush elephant and the African forest elephant and both come under the category of largest land mammals. The male section of the African bush elephant are around 7.6 meters tall and weigh around 6 tons while the females are much smaller and they weigh around 3 tons with an average height of 6.8-6.9 meters.
These elephants are short necked and have their ears covering their neck and have well grown pair of tusks with a barrel shaped body with four heavy and huge legs and a trunk which is muscular. They have tail but it is usually very short. The infants of elephants are the prey for lion and cheetah attacks. But, humans are the well known enemies of these mammals who hunt them down for their own pleasure.
Largest Land Mammals and Their Types
The white rhinoceros is another species which belongs to the category of largest land mammals. There are two categories for the white rhino which are the southern white rhino and the northern white rhino. The word white was a misinterpretation of the word wide which indicated the width of the rhino’s mouth. They are also known by the name square lipped rhinos. The Southern White Rhinos are found excessively in South Africa whereas the Northern Rhinos are considered to be critically endangered or extinct. These animals are herbivores and they are usually poached for their skin.
The Hippopotamus are the next in the list of largest land animals and they are known to be of semi aquatic nature. These animals prefer the coolness of the water or mud and even their reproduction is done under the water but they migrate to land for feeding on grass.
