1. What is the most endangered species of elephant today? Approximately how many of these elephants still
survive? Where are these elephants found?
The Asian elephant is the most endangered elephant species today; only about 30,000 survive worldwide. Wild
populations are found in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia,
Vietnam, China, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
2. What is a matriarchal elephant herd?
An elephant family led by older female elephants. African savanna elephants travel in matriarchal herds. Male
elephants leave the herd as teenagers to live predominantly solitary lives.
© The Field Museum, GN90997_24d
Exhibit Area Overviews
Page 10
Key Terms
The following terms are found within the Mammoths and Mastodons
exhibition:
Proboscideans: Members of an order of mammals that includes the living elephants and their extinct
relatives, such as mammoths and mastodons; defined especially by
their trunk.
Proboscis: A long, flexible snout found on members of the order Proboscidea.
Pleistocene:
A period of time from about 1.7 million to 11,000 years ago, which includes the
world’s most recent period of glaciation, or Ice Age.
Herbivore: An organism that feeds primarily on grasses and other plant materials.
Carnivore:
An organism that feeds primarily on other organisms.
Permafrost: Permanently frozen ground, generally occurs when temperatures remain below 0ºC
for several years.
Matriarchal/Matriarchy: A form of social organization in which the leader or head of the group is a female.
Mammoth:
Proboscideans from genus Mammuthus, alive during the Pleistocene; most easily
identified by the long curving tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long,
shaggy hair.
Mastodon:
A genus of proboscideans largely defined by the shape of their teeth, having blunt and
conical molars.
